Taxes not witholding enough

[Anonymous]

DH needs to adjust withholdings. Not the company's responsibility.

[Anonymous]

Our combined income is 158k.

We made less than $500 in interest last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here- We're using turbo tax.

I assume that when you have 0 exemptions your employer should withhold the correct amount of tax for your bracket/income? Is this not correct?

Oh gosh, no! Talk to an accountant, please.

NP but why wouldn't this be correct?

[Anonymous]

Google "marriage penalty". Basically, if both of you earn a similar amount and aren't poor, 0 exemptions isn't enough. DH has 0 exemptions and is listed as married. I'm 0 exemptions and am withholding at the single rate. Before we had kids, that got us close enough not to have to pay a penalty on what we owe.

It sounds like you need to talk to an accountant to better understand how taxes work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here- We're using turbo tax.

I assume that when you have 0 exemptions your employer should withhold the correct amount of tax for your bracket/income? Is this not correct?

Oh gosh, no! Talk to an accountant, please.

NP but why wouldn't this be correct?

The most simple answer is that each person's employer only withholds based on that one income; they don't take into account anything else like spousal income. So depending on your deductions and such, there's no way to tell if it's going to be accurate come tax time.

[Anonymous]

File separately and she what happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here- We're using turbo tax.

I assume that when you have 0 exemptions your employer should withhold the correct amount of tax for your bracket/income? Is this not correct?

Serious question: How old are you? Do you honestly think it is your employer's responsibility to adjust your witholding, to keep up with your taxes? Why do you think that you have to fill out a W-4 when you are hired, if it's your bosses jobs to do your taxes?

[Anonymous]

Good googa moo!

[Anonymous]

Ask for withholding "married but at the single rate"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here- We're using turbo tax.

I assume that when you have 0 exemptions your employer should withhold the correct amount of tax for your bracket/income? Is this not correct?

Serious question: How old are you? Do you honestly think it is your employer's responsibility to adjust your witholding, to keep up with your taxes? Why do you think that you have to fill out a W-4 when you are hired, if it's your bosses jobs to do your taxes?

I could be wrong but I dont think that OP was at all implying the above.

I think she assumes that the employer is withholding the correct amount based on DH's ZERO witholdings and his Married Filing Jointly status. Nowhere in her statement did I see that she assumed the employer took her income into consideration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm having a lot of trouble with my taxes and can't seem to figure out why they never add up.

Last year I had additional withholding of $100 a pay period thinking it would be enough (using the calculator). I just did our taxes and we owe $4500 AGAIN. I just don't understand why. Both of us work (standard W4s), married and own a home (5k in mortgage interest deductions from that). I do not think DH's employer is withholding enough. DH says that he put 0 exemption and married, filing jointly. Why aren't enough taxes being taken out of his income? Using the calculator it shows that he's underpaying by $3500 just for his salary. Also, even though he received a 10k raise in the fall, it shows he made less money in 2013 than 2012. I'm just so frustrated by the taxes!

I would really like to fix this for next year to avoid penalties. What am I doing wrong?

OP i feel your pain. We have a very similar issue this year and owe about the same amount- both of our employers not withholding enough. Total unwelcome surprise. . In my case my employer changed my exemptions when I got married (last year) to 2 and never caught it till now, but with DH we can't figure it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm having a lot of trouble with my taxes and can't seem to figure out why they never add up.

Last year I had additional withholding of $100 a pay period thinking it would be enough (using the calculator). I just did our taxes and we owe $4500 AGAIN. I just don't understand why. Both of us work (standard W4s), married and own a home (5k in mortgage interest deductions from that). I do not think DH's employer is withholding enough. DH says that he put 0 exemption and married, filing jointly. Why aren't enough taxes being taken out of his income? Using the calculator it shows that he's underpaying by $3500 just for his salary. Also, even though he received a 10k raise in the fall, it shows he made less money in 2013 than 2012. I'm just so frustrated by the taxes!

I would really like to fix this for next year to avoid penalties. What am I doing wrong?

something is not right here. zero exemptions and you still owe - even with mortgage deduction? even with the 10K raise in the Fall, no way you should owe that much.

are you using turbo tax?

This is what I don't understand either- OP seems to be doing things right. Maybe one of the smarties on this thread can explain rather than just exclaiming "gosh no!"

[Anonymous]

When all else fails, blame Obama.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When all else fails, blame Obama.

Hell yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm having a lot of trouble with my taxes and can't seem to figure out why they never add up.

Last year I had additional withholding of $100 a pay period thinking it would be enough (using the calculator). I just did our taxes and we owe $4500 AGAIN. I just don't understand why. Both of us work (standard W4s), married and own a home (5k in mortgage interest deductions from that). I do not think DH's employer is withholding enough. DH says that he put 0 exemption and married, filing jointly. Why aren't enough taxes being taken out of his income? Using the calculator it shows that he's underpaying by $3500 just for his salary. Also, even though he received a 10k raise in the fall, it shows he made less money in 2013 than 2012. I'm just so frustrated by the taxes!

I would really like to fix this for next year to avoid penalties. What am I doing wrong?

something is not right here. zero exemptions and you still owe - even with mortgage deduction? even with the 10K raise in the Fall, no way you should owe that much.

are you using turbo tax?

This is what I don't understand either- OP seems to be doing things right. Maybe one of the smarties on this thread can explain rather than just exclaiming "gosh no!"

Agreed. If everyone on this thread were correct we would all be screwed. I am an intelligent and savvy 48 year old who has been paying taxes for years! Not one time did it ever occur to me that my employer could be withholding incorrectly. If this were the case then my employer would be hugely penalized as well.
So - assuming that I am married, filing jointly and I fill out my W4 correctly, zero exemptions...taking the mortgage interest deduction and fully funding my 401K then employer should be withholding X...what's the mystery here?