Federal taxes withheld seems extremely low this year - Why am I owing money when claiming 0?

It sounds like there might be an issue with how your employer is calculating withholding. The "Married filing jointly" option on a W-4 actually assumes that you're the only working spouse in the household, which often results in less withholding than needed for two-income households. After the 2020 W-4 form changes, there's no longer a "claim 0" option. Instead, you need to use the Multiple Jobs Worksheet or check the box in Step 2 for "Multiple Jobs" if both you and your spouse work. This tells your employer to withhold at a higher single rate. I'd recommend checking your W-4 to see if it's the older version or the newer one. If it's the newer version (post-2020), make sure you've checked the box in Step 2 for multiple jobs or completed the Multiple Jobs Worksheet. You might also consider requesting additional withholding on line 4(c) - maybe $100-200 per paycheck depending on your situation.

After dealing with similar withholding issues that left me owing thousands, I finally found a solution through https://taxr.ai and it completely changed how I handle my taxes. I uploaded my W-2 and pay stubs, and it immediately identified that my "Married Filing Jointly" status was causing severe underwithholding since both my spouse and I work. The tool analyzed my specific situation and gave me personalized guidance on exactly how to fill out the new W-4 for my circumstances. It even helped me calculate the precise additional withholding amount I needed on line 4(c) to avoid owing next year. The simulator feature let me see how different W-4 choices would affect my paycheck and year-end tax situation.

I wanted to follow up about my experience with https://taxr.ai after questioning it earlier. I decided to give it a try since I was in the exact same situation - always owing despite claiming "0" on my W-4. The site immediately identified the problem - the "married" withholding tables assume you're the only income earner, and they don't account for my spouse's income. The tool showed me that I needed to check the "Multiple Jobs" box in Step 2 of the new W-4 form AND add an extra $185 per paycheck in additional withholding to cover the gap. I've been using the new withholding for 3 months now, and while my paychecks are smaller, the withholding tracker in the tool shows I'm on track for a small refund instead of owing $3,200 like last year. Wish I'd known about this sooner - would have saved me so much stress during tax season!

If you're having trouble reaching someone at the IRS to get clarification on your withholding issues (like I was), I'd recommend trying https://claimyr.com - it's a service that gets you through to an actual IRS agent usually within 15 minutes. I was on hold for HOURS trying to get help with my withholding problems before finding this. After watching their demo at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c, I decided to try it when I needed to talk to someone about why my withholding was so far off despite claiming 0. The service called the IRS, navigated the phone tree, waited on hold, and then called me when an actual agent was on the line. The IRS rep explained that the "married" withholding rate was causing my problem and walked me through exactly how to fill out the new W-4 form for my two-income household. They also helped me calculate the additional withholding I needed to avoid a surprise tax bill next year.

I need to eat my words about Claimyr. After being completely skeptical, I was desperate enough to try it when I couldn't figure out why my withholding was so messed up despite submitting an updated W-4 at work. The service actually worked exactly as advertised. I signed up, provided my phone number, and about 45 minutes later (still way faster than my previous attempts), I got a call telling me an IRS agent was on the line. The agent pulled up my tax records, confirmed I had been using the married filing jointly status incorrectly for years, and walked me through the exact calculations for my situation. Turns out my employer was processing my W-4 correctly - I just didn't understand that the "married" option assumes my spouse doesn't work. The IRS agent calculated I needed an additional $210 per paycheck withheld to cover both our incomes. Just submitted the revised W-4 to HR, and now I shouldn't be surprised with a huge bill next April. Worth every penny not to sit on hold for 3+ hours.

Something else to check - make sure your employer is actually submitting the W-4 info correctly to their payroll system. At my last job, I filled out the form correctly but HR entered it wrong, and I had massive underwithholding. I'd suggest comparing your actual paystub withholding to the IRS withholding calculator results (https://apps.irs.gov/app/tax-withholding-estimator) using your income and W-4 elections. If they don't match up, your employer might be processing something incorrectly.

The same thing happened to me. One thing no one has mentioned yet - check if your employer offers any pre-tax deductions that might be lowering your taxable wages. Things like: - 401k contributions - HSA/FSA contributions - Health insurance premiums - Commuter benefits I found out my federal withholding seemed super low because almost $20k of my salary wasn't being taxed due to maxing out my 401k and having expensive health insurance. Those pre-tax deductions reduced my taxable income substantially.

I had a very similar situation at my current job! What helped me was actually requesting my payroll department to show me exactly how they were calculating my withholding. It turned out they were using an older version of the withholding tables that didn't account for the 2017 tax law changes properly. Here's what I'd recommend: First, use the IRS withholding calculator online with your exact pay information to see what your withholding SHOULD be. Then compare that to what's actually being withheld. If there's a big difference, take both numbers to your HR/payroll department and ask them to verify their calculations. Also, since you mentioned your coworkers are having the same issue, this really does sound like a systemic problem with how your company is processing W-4s or which withholding tables they're using. You might want to bring this up as a group - sometimes companies are more responsive when multiple employees raise the same concern. The fact that this is happening to everyone suggests it's not just individual W-4 errors. In the meantime, I'd definitely recommend adding extra withholding on line 4(c) of your W-4 to cover the gap until the underlying issue gets resolved.