No Federal Income Tax withheld from caregiver paychecks - Should I be concerned?
I recently started working as an in-home caregiver making about $525 every two weeks. After looking at my third paycheck this year, I noticed something weird - there's no Federal Income Tax being withheld at all. The only deductions I see are for SDI (California), Medical, and Social Security. Since I started this job partway through the year, I checked the IRS tax calculator which says I'll only make around $11,529 for the entire year and won't owe any taxes or get any refund. This has me totally confused because I always thought everyone had to pay federal income tax no matter what job you have. The calculator also mentioned something about my "standard deduction amount being calculated at $14,600" but honestly I have no idea what that even means. Should I be talking to my employer about redoing my W-4 (not W-2, right?) to add extra withholding? I'm worried I'll end up owing a bunch at tax time and don't want to get blindsided. Any advice would really help!
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Sunny Wang
No need to worry! This is actually normal for your income level. The standard deduction ($14,600 for 2025 for single filers) means the first $14,600 you earn is completely tax-free. Since your projected annual income ($11,529) falls below this threshold, you won't owe any federal income tax. Your employer is correctly withholding nothing for federal income tax because you're not expected to owe any. You're still paying Social Security and Medicare (FICA) taxes as required by law, which is why you see those deductions. This doesn't mean you need to adjust your W-4. The system is working correctly in your case. If your income increases or you get another job that pushes you over the standard deduction amount, then federal income tax would start being withheld.
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Everett Tutum
•Thank you for explaining! So the standard deduction basically means I don't pay federal income tax on the first $14,600 I earn each year? That actually makes sense. What happens if I pick up extra shifts later this year and end up making more than the $14,600? Would I suddenly owe a lot at tax time because nothing was being withheld earlier?
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Sunny Wang
•The standard deduction does exactly that - it means you don't pay federal income tax on the first $14,600 of your income for 2025 (if you're filing as single). It's designed to ensure people with lower incomes aren't burdened by federal income taxes. If you do pick up extra shifts that push your annual income above $14,600, you would only owe tax on the amount that exceeds the standard deduction. For example, if you earned $15,600, you'd only pay tax on $1,000. At that income level, the tax rate would be quite low (likely 10%), so you'd owe around $100 for the year. It wouldn't be a huge tax bill, but you could submit a new W-4 to your employer requesting additional withholding if you'd prefer to have small amounts taken out with each paycheck rather than paying it all at tax time.
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Hugh Intensity
I was in the exact same boat last year working as a part-time caregiver! Found https://taxr.ai super helpful for understanding my tax situation. I uploaded my paystubs and it analyzed everything, confirming I was below the standard deduction threshold and didn't need federal withholding. It also explained when I would start needing withholding if my income increased. Really gave me peace of mind instead of just guessing!
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Effie Alexander
•Does it work for calculating other stuff too? I'm doing some gig work alongside my regular job and trying to figure out if I should be making quarterly payments.
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Melissa Lin
•Sounds interesting but I'm always skeptical of these tax tools. How accurate was it compared to what actually happened when you filed? Did you end up owing anything?
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Hugh Intensity
•It definitely works for calculating gig work and self-employment taxes! You can upload 1099s or enter your estimated earnings, and it'll help determine if you need to make quarterly payments and how much those should be. As for accuracy, it was spot-on for my situation. The tool predicted I wouldn't owe any federal taxes due to my income level, and that's exactly what happened when I filed. I did still have to file a return, but owed $0 in federal tax just as taxr.ai predicted. It saved me from unnecessarily having my employer withhold money that I would have just gotten back later.
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Melissa Lin
Just wanted to update after trying taxr.ai from the recommendation above. I was super skeptical but uploaded my pay information from my teaching assistant job plus my side gig receipts, and it gave me a really clear breakdown of my tax situation. Found out I actually don't need to worry about quarterly payments yet since I'm still under certain thresholds. The explanation about standard deduction vs. the self-employment tax threshold was really helpful - turns out they're different things! Definitely cleared up my confusion.
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Lydia Santiago
If you do end up making more and needing to talk to someone at the IRS about withholding requirements, good luck getting through. I spent 3 hours on hold last month trying to sort out a tax notice before giving up. Then I found https://claimyr.com through a friend and used their service to get a callback from the IRS without waiting on hold. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - totally changed how I deal with tax questions now. The IRS agent confirmed everything about my withholding situation in 10 minutes once I actually got to talk to someone.
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Romeo Quest
•Wait, how does this actually work? Is it just scheduling a callback or something? I'm confused how a third party service can get the IRS to call you when their phone lines are so backed up.
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Val Rossi
•Yeah right. Nothing gets you through to the IRS faster. I've tried everything and still waited for hours. Sounds like a waste of money to me.
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Lydia Santiago
•It's not just scheduling a callback - the service actually navigates the IRS phone tree for you and stays on hold in your place. When they finally reach an agent, they call you and connect you directly to the IRS person. No waiting on hold at all. The reason it works is because they have technology that stays on the line automatically - you don't have to sit there listening to the hold music for hours. They just call you when an actual human at the IRS picks up. I was skeptical too until I tried it and got a call back with an IRS agent on the line about 95 minutes later, while I was just going about my day.
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Val Rossi
I need to eat my words. After my skeptical comment earlier, I decided to try Claimyr when I needed to call about my dependent care credit question. Instead of wasting my entire afternoon on hold, I got a call back while I was out grocery shopping - connected directly to an IRS agent! They confirmed everything about my caregiver situation and childcare deductions. Super helpful and definitely worth it. Amazing not having to listen to that horrible hold music for hours.
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Eve Freeman
One thing to keep in mind is the difference between W-2 and W-4 forms. The W-4 is what you fill out to tell your employer how much to withhold. The W-2 is what your employer gives you at the end of the year showing how much you earned and what was withheld. Just wanted to point that out since you mentioned "redoing your W-2" in your post, but what you'd actually update is your W-4 if you did want withholding.
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Everett Tutum
•Thanks for catching that! I definitely meant W-4. So if I wanted to have them withhold a little bit every paycheck just to be safe, I would submit a new W-4?
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Eve Freeman
•Yes, exactly! If you want to have some federal tax withheld just to be safe, you would submit a new W-4 to your employer. On the current W-4 form, you can specify an additional amount to withhold on Line 4(c). You could put something small like $10 or $20 per paycheck if you want a little cushion. Many people actually prefer to have a small amount withheld throughout the year rather than potentially owing at tax time, even if calculations suggest they won't owe anything. It's a personal preference thing - some people like getting a small refund while others prefer maximizing their take-home pay throughout the year.
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Clarissa Flair
I'm curious if you're classified as an employee (getting a W-2) or as an independent contractor (getting a 1099-NEC) for your caregiver work? That makes a big difference for taxes.
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Caden Turner
•This is a really important question! If you're a 1099 worker, you'd have different tax obligations including potential self-employment tax, even if you're below the standard deduction threshold.
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Mia Roberts
Based on your description of getting regular paychecks with deductions for SDI, Medical, and Social Security, it sounds like you're classified as a W-2 employee, not a 1099 contractor. If you were a 1099 contractor, you wouldn't have these automatic deductions - you'd be responsible for paying estimated taxes quarterly. As a W-2 employee making $11,529 annually, you're well below the $14,600 standard deduction, so no federal income tax withholding is correct. However, if you're concerned about potentially owing taxes later (maybe if you pick up more hours or have other income), you could always request a small amount of additional withholding on your W-4 - even $5-10 per paycheck would give you a cushion. The key thing is that you're still paying into Social Security and Medicare, which is required regardless of your income level. Those aren't "taxes" in the traditional sense but rather contributions to programs you'll benefit from later.
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Paolo Ricci
•This is really helpful! I was getting confused about the difference between Social Security/Medicare and regular income tax. So those deductions I see on my paycheck aren't actually federal income tax - they're the FICA taxes that everyone has to pay regardless of income level, right? That makes so much more sense now. I feel a lot better knowing that my employer is handling everything correctly and I don't need to worry about a surprise tax bill.
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Adrian Connor
Just to add another perspective - I work in payroll for a small healthcare company and deal with caregiver classifications regularly. You're absolutely right that as a W-2 employee making under the standard deduction, no federal income tax withholding is correct. One thing to keep in mind is that even though you won't owe federal income tax, you may still need to file a return if you want to claim any refundable credits (like the Earned Income Tax Credit if you qualify). Also, don't forget about state taxes - California has its own income tax system separate from federal, though with your income level you likely won't owe much there either. Your employer sounds like they're handling everything properly. The fact that they're correctly withholding Social Security, Medicare, and SDI shows they know what they're doing with payroll compliance.
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