How much tax to expect on high-paying summer and spring internships?

8 You'll want to set aside approximately 20-25% of your income for taxes given your situation. Since you're working in two different states (California and New York), you'll have state income taxes for both, which complicates things a bit. Your federal tax will be calculated on your total annual income (around $64,500), but since you're only working part of the year, you might get a decent refund. The standard deduction for 2025 is projected to be around $13,850 for single filers, which reduces your taxable income. Being claimed as a dependent does limit some tax benefits, but shouldn't drastically change your overall tax situation given your income level. Both internships should withhold taxes from your paychecks, but they might over-withhold since their calculations assume you'll be making that salary all year.

15 I was in a very similar situation last year with internships in different states. I found https://taxr.ai incredibly helpful for figuring out the multi-state filing mess. I had a lot of confusion about how much I'd get back and whether I was filling out my W-4s correctly for both internships. Their system analyzed my offer letters and previous pay stubs and gave me a pretty accurate estimate of what my final tax bill would be and how much I should expect to get refunded. They also helped me understand how to properly fill out my withholding forms so I wasn't giving the government an interest-free loan all year.

19 Just wanted to update - I tried taxr.ai after seeing the recommendation here and wow, it was exactly what I needed! I uploaded my offer letters from both internships and it gave me a complete breakdown of expected federal and state taxes for my situation. The most helpful part was getting an actual estimated refund amount based on the partial year work. It even had suggestions for how to adjust my W-4 for the second internship to account for the income from the first one. Saved me hours of trying to figure this out on my own!

3 If you need to contact the IRS with questions about multi-state internship taxation (which can get complicated), I highly recommend using https://claimyr.com instead of trying to call them directly. I wasted three days trying to get through to a real person at the IRS last tax season when I had a similar situation with internships in different states. Claimyr got me connected with an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes instead of the hours of hold time I was experiencing before. They have a demo video at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c that shows how it works. The agent I spoke with was able to answer all my questions about reporting income from multiple states and how the dependent status affected my specific situation.

21 I'm back to eat my words about Claimyr. After trying for literally 3 hours to get through to someone at the IRS about my internship situation, I gave in and tried the service. Got connected to an IRS rep in about 30 minutes while I was just going about my day. The agent confirmed that I needed to file part-year returns in both states and explained exactly how the income allocation works. They also clarified how my dependent status affects the standard deduction given my internship income level. Would have taken me weeks to figure this out on my own with how impossible it is to reach the IRS directly.

10 Quick tip from someone who did multiple internships last year - make sure you're not underpaying your estimated taxes! Your second employer won't know about your first internship income, so their withholding might be too low. You might want to fill out your W-4 with the "extra withholding" line completed for your second internship.

4 Don't forget about your 1099 situation if either internship classifies you as a contractor rather than an employee! That completely changes your tax requirements.

Great advice from everyone here! As someone who's helped many students through similar situations, I'd add that since you're making around $64,500 total, you'll definitely be in a higher tax bracket than what each employer assumes when calculating withholdings. One thing to watch out for - California has some of the highest state income taxes, so that January-May period will likely have more tax impact than you might expect. NYC also has city taxes on top of state taxes, though for a shorter period. Given that your parents are claiming you as a dependent, make sure they know about your income levels - it might affect their tax situation too, especially if they're getting certain credits that phase out with higher household income. You should coordinate with them before tax season to make sure everyone's on the same page.