Federal Taxes withheld

[Deanna22]

I am not getting enough Federal taxes withheld from my paycheck biweekly. I claim 0 and can not figure out what changes I need to make in order for the normal federal taxes to be withheld from paycheck.

[Gabriella_EA]

Hi @Deanna22!

Getting your withholding right can feel daunting, especially since the W-4 has changed! The good news is that there are a lot of helpful tools to help you figure out what's right for you.

Here are some of my favorites:

TurboTax W-4 Calculator 2023

IRS Withholding Estimator

When you have a good 15-20 minutes to sit down and work on this, grab your most recent paystubs from any/all jobs you've worked this year, and go through the questions in one of these tools. At the end of the process, you'll be able to see an estimate of what you're on track for this year, and then you can also use the tool to figure out how to adjust the W-4 to get you to the correct withholding.

You can update your withholding as much as you need to in any given year, so it's not a bad idea to check up on your withholding now, and again in a couple months!

Thanks for reaching out, and I hope you find this information helpful!

[Deanna22]

Still very confusing to me! I use the tools come up with the results and have no idea what these #'s mean or where they should go. Do I need to have a certain amount of Federal taxes entered on the W4 in order to get more taken out of my paycheck every 2 weeks? I claim 0 so I thought the most would be taken out and they are ONLY taking $20 for Federal Taxes every 2 weeks, please help!

[Gabriella_EA]

After you get your results with the IRS tool, you should see a slide bar to adjust to your desired results. If you're already seeing a result you're happy with, you shouldn't have to change your withholding at all! If you do want a different result (higher/lower refund or balance due), you'll want to adjust that slide bar. Once you adjust the slide bar even a little, you'll see a new option just below it that says "How to Adjust Your Withholding." Click the + by that, and it will tell you exactly what to put on each line of the W-4. Go ahead and make the adjustments it recommends, and then check your next paystub to confirm how it worked for you!