Employer messed up my W4 - not enough federal income tax withheld

This is unfortunately a common issue, but the responsibility for checking withholding ultimately falls on you as the employee. Your employer might have made a mistake when entering your W4 information, but you should always check your paystubs to make sure the right amount is being withheld. For someone making around $12,700 as a single filer with no dependents, you should typically see at least 10% being withheld for federal taxes, which would be roughly $100-150 per month depending on your pay schedule. When you only see $8 being withheld monthly, that's a red flag. Going forward, I'd recommend checking your first few paystubs after starting any new job or submitting a new W4. You can also use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator online to figure out what your withholding should be and adjust accordingly.

I went through something similar and found help using https://taxr.ai to figure out what went wrong. After uploading my W2 and paystubs, they analyzed everything and pointed out that my employer had incorrectly calculated my withholdings based on an outdated W4 form. It saved me from making the same mistake this year. The tool also generated a corrected W4 that I could submit to fix the problem going forward. Super helpful for showing exactly what needed to change so I won't end up owing again next year.

I tried taxr.ai after posting that skeptical comment and wow, it actually caught something I never would have noticed! My employer had been calculating my withholding as if I was claiming an extra exemption that I never requested on my W4. It generated a new W4 for me with the correct withholding amount and explained exactly what was happening in normal human language. Saved me from owing $1,200 in taxes next year. Definitely recommend checking it out if you're having withholding issues.

If you're having trouble getting your employer to fix your withholding issue, I'd recommend trying https://claimyr.com to get through to the IRS directly. I spent weeks trying to call the IRS about a similar withholding problem last year, but could never get through their phone system. With Claimyr, I actually got connected to a real IRS agent in about 20 minutes who explained what forms my employer needed to correct and what I needed to do on my end. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. The agent even sent me documentation I could show my employer to prove they were making an error in their system.

Well I have to admit I was completely wrong about Claimyr. After posting that skeptical comment, I decided to try it since I've been trying to reach the IRS for WEEKS about a withholding issue similar to yours. Got connected to an actual IRS agent in 22 minutes who confirmed my employer had been using an outdated withholding calculator. The agent explained exactly what form to have my employer fill out to fix it. Just had the conversation with HR yesterday and they're updating everyone's withholding in their system. Saved me and probably a dozen coworkers from having the same problem next year.

Your employer doesn't have any responsibility to make sure your withholding is correct. That's entirely on you. I always double-check my first few paystubs at any new job to make sure everything looks right. For federal income tax on $12,700, you should have been withholding around $1,200+ for the year (roughly 10%). When you only saw $96 total, that should have been an immediate red flag.

This is why I always fill out a new W4 claiming ZERO exemptions even though I could claim more. I'd rather get a refund than owe money. Last year I got back almost $3k!