Change in job income

[DenJamesJessB]

I switched jobs on 3/20/23.
Previous job I was earning about $49-53K for the year at $23/hr. Current job has me projected to earn about $30K at $17/hr.
I've paid out about $3K in federal taxes alone from my previous job. I filed the W4 for the new job, Head of household, 3 dependents (2 kids, 1 adult).
I'm currently only having Medicare and SS taken out from new job, no federal taxes.

Have I already paid off my yearly in taxes from my previous job and that's why no federal taxes have been pulled?
Is there a new law in effect based on projected income earnings that I don't fall in the bracket to have federal taxes taken out?
Does writing exempt on the tax form mean you have no taxes taken out? I've written this before at other jobs and I still had federal taxes pulled regardless.


Thank you.

[andrea_cpa]

That is a great question.  The tax withholding tables are designed to calculate withholding as if you only have one job and you stay at that job for the entire year.  With the reduction in income, the new employer is likely calculating your withholdings at the lower income level and assuming you are now in a lower tax bracket.   If you are concerned that your new employer might not be withholding enough tax, you have some options available to increase the withholding.  You can omit your dependents from Step 3 on Form W-4 to have more tax withheld; or, you could use Line 4c of Form W-4 to have an additional amount withheld from each paycheck to help make-up the shortfall.  You may also want to run the numbers through the TurboTax W-4 calculator: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calculators/w4/

I hope this is helpful!

[DenJamesJessB]

Thank you for responding.

Looking over my last jobs pay stub, I paid out $1433.27 in federal alone. I used the turbotax W4 calculator link you sent me, and it's still showing I would receive a return without changing any W4 info. 
Earned $14,000 from previous job (Jan 1-March 24(last check))
Currently earned around $7500 from new job (March 20-current)

If I were to leave my withholding's as they are currently, will I end up owing in taxes come 2024 filing year?

[andrea_cpa]

With the information you have just given, it looks like you are currently earning ~$3,750 per month at the new job, plus $14,000 from the previous job.  At this rate, your income will likely be somewhere around $48,000 for the year.  The HOH standard deduction for 2023 is $20,800, taking taxable income down to $27,200.  This calculates to a tax number of ~$3,000.  Assuming that you have no other taxable income during the year AND assuming dependent tax credits of $4,000 (if both children are under age 17), zero looks like a reasonable number for withholding.