fed tax way underwithheld this year. arghhhh

[Anonymous]

Let me start by saying mea culpa. I should have noticed. I am not very educated on finances and unfortunately spouse is worse, so I do everything (investments, loans, bills, etc). I am trying to learn more but in the last year we moved, I got a new job, I moved my elderly parent out of their home and to live near us and one of my kids was diagnosed with a medical issue that has taken up a huge amount of time. Plus I work for the state of VA and our payroll system changed last year to something very confusing so I didnt...pay attention... to the taxes withheld.

Heres the confusing part.

I started this job in mid September 2021. I believe I filled out my w4 correctly and my withholding seemed reasonable. I did not change anything between then and 2022 except that I increased my retirement deductions by a bit. However, that should not have affected the withholding this much. Instead of taking out 650$ per pay period, as they did in 2021, they took out 218$. I have no idea why. Strangely, they are taking out the same amount in federal tax as my insurance costs. Everything else lines up--social security, medicare withhldings are on track. But my federal income tax is ot and I will owe a lot of $$$.

I only found this out today and wrote immediately to our (useless) HR department. I doubt I will get an answer of any sort but....can anyone explain why this might happen (I did NOT file another w4!!!).

[Anonymous]

Don’t expect your payroll team to be able to help. Even if the error was on their end, it’s your paycheck and your responsibility to ensure any errors are caught before year end. Let this be a lesson to you to review your paycheck every cycle.

[Anonymous]

Not a big deal. Worst case you will just have to pay a little bit of interest and a small penalty for the taxes you owe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not a big deal. Worst case you will just have to pay a little bit of interest and a small penalty for the taxes you owe.

Um, for most people, being hit with an unexpected $5000 tax bill is a huge deal.

[Anonymous]

I don't know why the withholding changed and in the end it doesn't matter. Do the calculator, submit a new W4, know that you are unlikely to have much in the way of penalties if this only happens in a single year, and move on.

Also if your child's health needs were very expensive, check if your medical expenses exceeded 7.5% of your 2022 income and whether that means you owe less in taxes if you itemize rather than taking the standard deduction. Most people come out ahead with the standard deduction and it's easier to file taxes with it, but having a lot of medical expenses may make itemizing worthwhile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a big deal. Worst case you will just have to pay a little bit of interest and a small penalty for the taxes you owe.

Um, for most people, being hit with an unexpected $5000 tax bill is a huge deal.

If OPs actual tax bill is $650 X 24 pay periods and they only withheld $218 per pay period, she could be looking at a tax bill of $10K.

[Anonymous]

Op here. I expect I am about 10i under. I had filled out the w4 for zero deductions plus an addditional 50$/pay period because I like knowing I will get a refund. I am incensed that’s this happened and it is a lesson. I was aware I think because I increases retirement and got a small raise that I wasn’t aware of any big shift in my pay—-but I did t pay attention to the amount of federal tax compared to last year. Ugh. We have funds to cover it since I was putting aside money to do some house repairs and upgrades but it also meant I was more liberal in spending…once I hit savings targets and bills I don’t budget ..guess I will now.

I still defywant to know why/how my federal withholding went from 656 to 218. Which is the cost if my insurance oddly enough.

[Anonymous]

Live and learn op

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a big deal. Worst case you will just have to pay a little bit of interest and a small penalty for the taxes you owe.

Um, for most people, being hit with an unexpected $5000 tax bill is a huge deal.

IRS has payment plans if you can’t pay at once

[Anonymous]

This happened to me a few years ago after I got a new job. We each got a lot more withheld to be on the safe side and are looking at a big refund this year. It is a bit like forced savings for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. I expect I am about 10i under. I had filled out the w4 for zero deductions plus an addditional 50$/pay period because I like knowing I will get a refund. I am incensed that’s this happened and it is a lesson. I was aware I think because I increases retirement and got a small raise that I wasn’t aware of any big shift in my pay—-but I did t pay attention to the amount of federal tax compared to last year. Ugh. We have funds to cover it since I was putting aside money to do some house repairs and upgrades but it also meant I was more liberal in spending…once I hit savings targets and bills I don’t budget ..guess I will now.

I still defywant to know why/how my federal withholding went from 656 to 218. Which is the cost if my insurance oddly enough.

You know this now, but with 2 working spouses, it’s the 0 exemptions plus $50 per pay period extra that caused you to be way underwithheld. Marriage penalty, etc. it’s a tough lesson, lots of us have been here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This happened to me a few years ago after I got a new job. We each got a lot more withheld to be on the safe side and are looking at a big refund this year. It is a bit like forced savings for us.

NP
How much extra do you have withheld? A few years ago we could no longer itemize on the federal and ended up owing about $8k. That hurt. We then each had an extra $200 withheld from each pay and still ended up owing a couple $k each year the past few years. It would be helpful if we could at least itemize on our state return, but VA requires a match of what you do on the federal.