Discovered I owe $14K in Federal Taxes due to missed withholding... help!

This situation is more common than you might think! First, take a deep breath - the IRS deals with withholding errors frequently, and they have systems in place for these exact scenarios. Yes, you can absolutely set up a payment plan with the IRS. It's called an Installment Agreement, and it's a straightforward process. You'll still need to file your return on time, but you can apply for a payment plan either online through the IRS website, by phone, or by submitting Form 9465 (Installment Agreement Request) with your tax return. The IRS doesn't actually care why your withholding was incorrect - whether it was an employer error or otherwise. What matters is addressing it now. I'd also recommend speaking with your HR/payroll department to figure out what happened and make sure your current withholding is correct to avoid the same issue next year.

I was in a similar situation last year when my employer messed up my withholding. I ended up owing $11K and was totally panicking! I tried calling the IRS multiple times but couldn't get through. Finally, I used this service called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that analyzed my tax documents and helped me understand my options for handling the tax debt. They explained exactly what forms I needed to file for a payment plan and even identified some deductions I had missed that reduced what I owed by about $1,800.

Just wanted to update that I tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here, and it was actually super helpful! I was in a similar situation (owed about $8K from a contract job with no withholding). The service helped me identify an education credit I didn't know I qualified for and some business expenses I could deduct. Ended up reducing what I owed by almost $2,300. The payment plan walkthrough was really clear too - I was able to set up monthly payments I can actually afford. Really glad I found this before I just paid the full amount!

If you need to actually talk to someone at the IRS about your situation (which might be a good idea with an amount that large), good luck getting through on the phone. I spent HOURS trying to reach someone about my payment plan options last month. Finally used this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that somehow gets the IRS to call YOU instead of waiting on hold forever. They have a demo video of how it works: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was skeptical but desperate after wasting an entire day trying to get through. Within about 45 minutes of using the service, I had an IRS agent on the phone who helped me set up my payment plan.

I need to apologize for my skeptical comment earlier. After seeing the tax bill I got yesterday ($7,800 I don't have), I was desperate enough to try Claimyr. I was 100% sure it wouldn't work and I'd just be out more money, but I didn't know what else to do. It actually worked exactly as described. I submitted my info this morning, and about 40 minutes later got a call connecting me to an actual IRS agent. The agent helped me set up a payment plan on the spot - $130/month which I can actually manage. They also explained that if I filed Form 843 I might be able to get some of the penalties abated since the withholding error wasn't my fault. I'm still in shock that I got through to the IRS without spending my entire day on hold.

Make sure you talk to your employer too! This happened to me a couple years ago - turned out HR had coded my tax withholding form wrong. My company ended up taking responsibility since it was their payroll error and they covered about half of what I owed (around $6K in my case). Worth checking if your company has any policies for payroll mistakes, especially if you can prove you filled out your W-4 correctly.

Dont forget to adjust your W-4 with your employer ASAP!!! You need to fill out a new form and probably put "additional withholding" on line 4(c) to make up for some of the underpayment this year. Otherwise you might end up in the same situation next year.

If your bill is exactly $14k, you might qualify for the IRS "short-term payment plan" where you can get up to 180 days to pay in full without having to pay the setup fee for a regular installment plan. You'll still pay interest but it might save you a little money if you can pull together the full amount within 6 months.

I went through almost the exact same situation two years ago - owed $13,500 due to a payroll system glitch that stopped withholding federal taxes for several months. The panic is totally understandable, but you have more options than you think! First, definitely file your return on time even if you can't pay the full amount. The failure-to-file penalty is much worse than the failure-to-pay penalty. You can set up an installment agreement online at irs.gov - it's actually pretty straightforward for amounts under $50k. One thing that really helped me was documenting everything about the withholding error. I gathered all my pay stubs, my W-4 forms, and emails with HR. While the IRS won't reduce what you owe because of the error, having this documentation helped when I requested penalty abatement later using Form 843 for "reasonable cause." Also check if you qualify for any credits or deductions you might have missed - I found I was eligible for some education credits that reduced my bill by about $800. Don't let the stress overwhelm you - the IRS deals with this stuff all the time and they'd rather work with you than chase you down!