My W2 has an empty Federal income tax withheld box - is this normal?
So I just got my W2 from a job I had for only a couple months last year, and I noticed something weird. The Federal income tax withheld box is completely empty. I don't mean zero - it's just blank. When I checked my old paystubs, I saw they were taking out Social Security and Medicare taxes, but nothing for federal income tax. I only made about $470 total from this position since it was super part-time and temporary. Is this normal for such a small amount of income? Or should I contact my former employer to see if there's some kind of mistake on my W2? I'm getting ready to file my taxes and want to make sure everything is correct before I submit anything to the IRS.
18 comments
Join the conversation
Layla Sanders
This is completely normal! When your income is very low, you might not have any federal income tax withheld. The reason is that when you fill out your W-4 form (which determines withholding), the system calculates approximately how much tax you'll owe for the year based on your expected income. If your total annual income is projected to be below the standard deduction ($13,850 for single filers in 2024), then you wouldn't owe any federal income tax at all. Since you only earned about $470 from this job, you're well below that threshold, assuming this was your only income. That's why you still see Social Security and Medicare taxes (collectively called FICA) being withheld - those start from the first dollar you earn, but federal income tax only kicks in after you exceed the standard deduction.
0 coins
Anna Stewart
•Oh that makes so much sense, thank you! I was worried something was wrong. I did have another job where they did withhold federal taxes, but that one I made much more at. So for this W2, I should just report it normally with the blank/zero federal withholding amount?
0 coins
Layla Sanders
•You should definitely report the W2 exactly as it appears, with the federal withholding showing as zero. The IRS systems will match what your employer reported, so entering it exactly as shown is important. For your other job where federal taxes were withheld, that makes perfect sense. When your income is higher, the withholding system kicks in. When you file your complete tax return with both W2s, the tax software or IRS will calculate your total tax situation correctly based on your combined income from all sources.
0 coins
Morgan Washington
Just went through something similar last month! I found this site https://taxr.ai that was super helpful for checking if my weird W2 situation was normal. I uploaded my W2 forms and it analyzed everything including the empty withholding boxes. The site confirmed exactly what the commenter above said - no federal withholding is normal for very low income jobs. It also checked all my other tax documents for potential issues before I filed. Saved me from calling my old boss for no reason!
0 coins
Kaylee Cook
•Does this site work for contractors too? I got a 1099-NEC with some weird numbers and my tax software is giving me errors.
0 coins
Oliver Alexander
•Hmm seems interesting but is it secure? Like uploading W2s with all my personal info makes me nervous. How do you know it's legit?
0 coins
Morgan Washington
•It absolutely works with 1099s! I actually started using it because my side hustle 1099 was confusing me. The system detects the form type automatically and applies the right rules for whatever you upload. As for security, I was nervous too at first. They use bank-level encryption for all documents, and they explain on their site that they don't store your docs permanently. They also have these verification badges from security companies on their site, which made me feel better about trying it.
0 coins
Kaylee Cook
Just wanted to update after trying taxr.ai for my confusing 1099 situation! It was actually really straightforward. The system flagged that my client had misclassified a business expense reimbursement as income on my 1099, which explained why my numbers didn't match my records. It generated a letter I could send to the client asking for a corrected form, with the exact IRS guidelines referenced. Saved me hours of research and stress! Definitely worth checking out if you've got weird tax docs like the original poster's W2 situation.
0 coins
Lara Woods
If you need to double check this with the IRS directly, good luck getting through to them this filing season! I spent 3 hours on hold last week before giving up. Then I found this service called Claimyr at https://claimyr.com that got me a callback from the IRS in like 20 minutes. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was skeptical, but after waiting on hold for HOURS multiple days, I was desperate. It worked exactly as advertised - they navigate the phone tree and hold patterns, then call you when an actual IRS agent is on the line. The agent confirmed my blank withholding box was perfectly normal for my part-time job income level.
0 coins
Adrian Hughes
•Wait so how does this actually work? Like do they have some special connection to the IRS or something? I don't understand how they can get through when regular people can't.
0 coins
Molly Chambers
•Yeah right. No way this is real. The IRS doesn't give special access to anyone. If it were that easy, everyone would be doing it. I'll stick to waiting on hold like everyone else.
0 coins
Lara Woods
•They don't have any special IRS access or connection. What they do is use a combination of automated systems that dial and navigate the IRS phone menus for you, and they have algorithms that know the best times to call based on historical wait time data. And to the skeptical person - I was exactly like you. I thought it was complete BS. But after my third attempt waiting on hold for over 2 hours, I figured I had nothing to lose. I was legitimately shocked when my phone rang and it was an actual IRS representative on the line. They don't do anything sketchy - they just handle the frustrating hold time part so you don't have to sit there listening to the same message repeat for hours.
0 coins
Molly Chambers
I have to eat my words. After seeing the replies here, I tried Claimyr yesterday because I had an issue with my stimulus payment not showing up correctly on my transcript. I was 100% convinced it was a scam. Well, I got a call back with an IRS agent on the line in about 35 minutes. The agent was able to look up my account and confirm that the system was just delayed in updating my transcript. Saved me from filing an amendment I didn't need to file. I've literally never been able to get through to the IRS during tax season before, so this was actually kind of amazing.
0 coins
Ian Armstrong
Just want to add - make sure you keep that W2 even though the federal withholding is blank. You still need to report the income and the Social Security/Medicare taxes that were withheld. I had a similar situation a few years ago and almost didn't include the W2 because I thought it wasn't important. My tax preparer caught it and explained that ALL income needs to be reported regardless of whether taxes were withheld.
0 coins
Anna Stewart
•Thanks for the heads up! I definitely planned to include it. Do you know if there's any special way to enter a W2 with blank withholding in tax software? Or do I just put 0?
0 coins
Ian Armstrong
•In most tax software, you'll enter the W2 information exactly as it appears on the form. If the federal withholding box is blank, you would enter "0" in that field in the software. The software doesn't usually have an option for "blank" so zero is the correct way to represent it. The important numbers on your W2 are in boxes 1 (wages), 3 and 5 (Social Security and Medicare wages), and 2 (federal income tax withheld - which in your case is 0). Make sure those all get entered correctly and you'll be fine!
0 coins
Eli Butler
this happened to me last year! i freaked out and called my employer and they said they didn't withhold any cuz i didn't make enough. also my w4 was filled out as "exempt" when i started, did u check ur w4? if u marked exempt they don't withhold anything.
0 coins
Marcus Patterson
•You might be onto something! I had an intern last summer who accidentally checked the "exempt" box on their W4 and had no idea what it meant. We had to explain that they were telling us not to withhold any federal income tax.
0 coins