I owe every year

[evelynm]

Owing federal income tax at the end of the year.  Here are some scenarios:

1. Under-withholding:

• Each job assumes you have only one source of income.  
• Your tax rate increases as your income rises. 

2. Limited Standard Deduction:

• You can only claim one standard deduction on your tax return, regardless of the number of jobs you hold.  

3. Incorrect W-4 Form:

• Outdated or inaccurate information on your W-4 forms, especially regarding allowances or multiple jobs, can lead to under-withholding. 

4. Other income sources without withholding:

• If you have other sources of income that don't have taxes automatically withheld, like side work, investment income or self-employment,  you'll need to account for those when determining your tax liability. 

How to avoid owing taxes or a large tax bill:

1.  Complete a new W-4 Form. 
2.  Here is a great link to calculate your tax liability and prepare an updated W-4:  W-4 Tax Calculator 
3.  Account for all income sources:   When completing your W-4 form, ensure you account for all sources of income, including secondary jobs and other income sources that do not have automatic withholdings.
4.  Make estimated tax payments:  You can make quarterly estimated tax payments to the IRS.  Here is the link for estimated tax payments:   IRS estimated tax payments 

[Bemmons55]

Take more deductions. If you are claiming 0 or 1 go up to 5 or so. You'll have more taxes taken out that way you won't owe. Just a thought I know my sister claims quite a few and that way when tax time gets here she has money to go visit her son out of state. 

[xmasbaby0]

@Bemmons55 Heed the advice of expert @evelynm ----The W-4 you fill out for your employer tells the employer how much to withhold for tax----the other post in this thread suggests "take more deductions"---which is incorrect.    The newer version of the W-4 does not have you list exemptions or "deductions" on it---and if it did, claiming "more" would cause you to have less tax withheld, not more--and you would end up owing more at tax time.  Use the W-4 calculator and make sure you are having enough tax withheld--you can even choose to have an extra amount withheld from each paycheck to make certain that you are having enough withheld.

W-4

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