Federal income tax not being withheld 2024 in Washington State

[Brycewood99]

My income tax isn’t being withheld for some reason. I’m married filling jointly and just have two dependents. I got my first check from work today and realized no federal taxs are being withheld and the company pretty much denied me with help when I asked what was up saying “go ask a tax professional”. I live in Washington state but I’m not sure if that matters.

[Bsch4477]

I assume that you are an employee and not an independent contractor. Employers are required by law to withhold employment taxes from their employees

Give your employer a completed W-4. 

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf

[xmasbaby0]

Make sure they are not treating you as an independent contractor.   Did they withhold Social Security and Medicare?     If so, you a W-2 employee and you can provide them with a W-4 to indicate how much tax to withhold.  

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calculators/w4/ 

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/tax-withholding-estimator

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf

However, if they are not withholding Social Security or Medicare, nor federal tax, then you need to know if they are treating you as an independent contractor to whom they will issue a 1099NEC.  If that is what they are doing you will owe self-employment tax for Social Security and Medicare as well as ordinary income tax.

[Brycewood99]

I am not an independent contractor or being treated like one in their system, they are taking out social security and stuff like that just not my federal income taxes. I gave them a W4 when I started that simply stated I was married filing jointly with two dependents and no other form of income.

[rjs]

It's possible that your income is low enough that, with two children, you will not have to pay any tax, so no federal tax withholding is required. Use the Tax Withholding Estimator on the IRS web site to get an estimate of your tax for the year. It will show you whether you need to have any tax withheld, and if so, what to put on your W-4.

You said that you just got your first paycheck, so it appears that you have just started this job. The results might be different for next year, when you will be working for the whole year. Go through the Tax Withholding Estimator again after you get your first check in 2025.

[rjs]

Do not count your spouse as a dependent. Your spouse can never be your dependent. Filing as married filing jointly takes care of accounting for your spouse.