I made a mistake regarding the federal income tax withhold

[ortizdara]

I was doing my taxes and I was about to enter the information of my second W-2 when I noticed it had $0.00 for Box 2, the federal income tax withheld. I checked my pay stubs and they all also say $0.00. There must've been a mistake while filling out the W-4 and I never noticed it. I worked there for around 5 months. I obviously owe the IRS, what can I do now to fix this?Will I be in big trouble?

[xmasbaby0]

You cannot fix or undo the lack of withholding for several months.   It is what it is.   Going forward, change your withholding with the employer and have them take out federal tax.  The results of your 2020 tax return will simply reflect the amount of income you had and the amount that was (or was not) withheld.

[ortizdara]

I don’t work there anymore. Should I just do my taxes as normal and they’ll take the money from what I was supposed to get on the tax return?

[SteamTrain]

Yep...you just go thru the software and enter all your income from whatever source during 2020.

IF you had very little other income during the year, you might not owe anything....but that depends on the total income you report for that W-2 and anything else.....like did you get unemployment income?...or did you withdraw $$ from an IRA or other retirement account .

[ortizdara]

Nope! I was employed the whole year at one job and I worked at this one for five months. Sorry to be annoying but this is freaking me out so just to be extra sure, I won't get in trouble for using the w2 that says $0.00 for federal income tax withheld? 

[xmasbaby0]

No----You have to enter your W-2----NOT entering is what could get you in trouble----because underreporting your income to the IRS will cause a problem for you.    Just remember---the employer has already sent that W-2 to the IRS.  The IRS knows how much your employer paid you.   Your tax return has to match what the IRS knows about.

[kywonderers]

Actually there is no way to fix your original mistake.  You simply don't have any withholding to report for that w-2.  You may not have enough withholding from other sources to cover tax due in which case there will be a penalty.