Federal Taxes

[stump1987]

I was wondering, what would be the reason federal taxes are not being withheld each paycheck? They were taken out in my 1st check, but nothing since. I've redone my w2, but its the same way I've filled it out every year, so nothing new. 

[KochuK]

Hi Stump1987,

This will be a good question for your employer HR department. 

First you should make sure you have a updated W-4 form on file.

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

Or you can use below IRS tool to check if you paid in enough for tax year 2022.

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

If not enough, you can always use IRS Direct Pay to pay in some estimated tax payments.

https://www.irs.gov/payments/direct-pay

The above are different ways to pay into the IRS for tax year 2022, depending on your goals if (1) have a refund; (2) have a small balance due; or not to incur underpayment penalty.

Hope the above helps.

[STaxLady]

Hello @stump1987  and thanks for the question!

This is a great question that affects many taxpayers.

Based on your question, this is my understanding of the situation:

You completed a new W4 for your employer, but did not change anything.

Your 1st paycheck had federal taxes withheld, but no federal tax has been withheld since that 1st check.

Depending on the amount of income, there may be no need for federal withholding.

We would need more information to make this determination.

You may find our W4 estimator and TaxCaster helpful in determining if you should be having federal tax withheld from your income. You can find those and our other tax tools at the following link:

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

If taxes should be withheld and they are not, you should reach out to your employer. It is possible that there was an error in completing the W4 or an error in entering it into the payroll system.

I hope that this answers your question stump1987. Please reach out if we can be of further assistance.

[stump1987]

I've redone them three times now. Payroll manager has told me that she doesn't quite understand the new tax bracket and if I need any further help to talk to a CPA.  I'm pretty sure I should ve having taxes withheld...always have for the 16yrs I've been working. Im making $18.50 at 40hrs/wk...I'm pretty sure I should be paying. 

[STaxLady]

Yes, @stump1987 . I would agree that you should be having some taxes withheld!

Unfortunately, there is no way for me to know why they are not withholding any federal taxes.

As KochuK mentioned, you could always make a payment or payments through IRS DirectPay to ensure the results that you are hoping for at tax time.

Another option would be to complete a new W4, indicating in Step 4(c) that you would like an additional amount withheld. You could use the TurboTax W4 estimator to help calculate the amount to include here.

Whatever you decide to do, kudos for taking action on this to save yourself from a surprise tax bill!