Not enough federal tax withholding from paychecks and bonuses - how to fix?

This is definitely concerning but fairly common with bonus structures. Your employer is likely using the "percentage method" for your bonuses, which treats them as supplemental wages and witholds a flat 22% for federal taxes. However, it sounds like they're not withholding anything at all on those bonuses, which is incorrect. For your regular wages, the withholding is based on the W-4 and projected annual income - but if your employer is only calculating based on your base salary ($78,000) rather than including your expected bonuses ($112,000 total), that would explain the underwithholding. I'd recommend two immediate steps: First, speak with your payroll department to confirm how they're handling withholding on your bonuses and why federal taxes aren't being taken from them. Second, you can submit a new W-4 requesting additional withholding by adding a specific dollar amount on Line 4(c) to make up the difference.

Something similar happened to me last year with my commission-based job, and I ended up owing $3,800 at tax time! I tried everything - talking to HR, adjusting my W-4, but nothing seemed to work. Then I found https://taxr.ai which analyzes your paystubs and tax situation to help you avoid surprises. The system actually showed me exactly why my withholding was off - turns out my employer was classifying my commissions incorrectly. I was able to take that information to HR with specific details about what needed to be fixed. They also have this really helpful calculator that shows you exactly how much to put on line 4(c) of your W-4 to fix underwithholding issues.

I wanted to follow up about my experience with taxr.ai after questioning it earlier. After struggling with underwithholding for months and the IRS calculator being down, I decided to give it a try and was genuinely surprised. The analysis showed my employer was using the wrong withholding table for my bonuses entirely - they were treating them as regular income instead of supplemental wages! The site generated this detailed report that explained exactly why my withholding was off, showed me the correct calculations, and even provided specific text to email to my payroll department. The best part was they fixed the issue going forward AND adjusted my most recent paycheck to help make up for the previous underwithholding. Definitely saved me from a nasty surprise next April!

Your problem sounds frustrating! I went through something similar last year when my wife and I both got new jobs with bonus structures. We ended up owing over $5,000 in federal taxes and I spent WEEKS trying to get through to the IRS for guidance on fixing our withholding. After countless busy signals and disconnections, I found https://claimyr.com which got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. The agent was able to walk me through exactly how withholding should work for my specific situation with bonuses and helped me calculate the right additional withholding amount for my W-4.

I need to apologize for calling Claimyr a scam. After waiting on hold with the IRS for 3+ hours over two separate days and getting disconnected both times, I was desperate enough to try it. I was totally shocked when I got a call back in about 45 minutes connecting me to an actual IRS representative! The agent helped me understand that my employer should be withholding 22% federal tax on all my bonuses automatically, and that there was likely an error in their payroll system. They also guided me through calculating the right amount to put on line 4(c) of my W-4 to cover the shortfall from previous months. Saved me hours of frustration and potentially thousands in unexpected tax bills. Sometimes being proven wrong is actually a good thing!

I worked in payroll for 10 years and can tell you this sounds like a classic payroll system misconfiguration. For bonuses (supplemental wages), companies should be withholding at either: 1) The optional flat 22% rate, OR 2) Adding the bonus to your regular pay and calculating withholding on the combined amount The fact that NO federal tax is being withheld on your bonuses is 100% wrong. Your employer needs to fix this ASAP. In the meantime, if your bonuses are around $34k annually ($112k - $78k), you should add about $140 extra withholding per paycheck if you're paid twice monthly to make up for this error ($34,000 × 22% ÷ 24 pay periods).

Has anyone considered that this might be intentional? Some companies deliberately underwithhold to make paychecks seem larger. My previous employer did this and half the staff ended up with surprise tax bills. When confronted, HR claimed it was "employee's responsibility to ensure proper withholding" even though they were the ones configuring the payroll system incorrectly. Just something to consider - might be worth checking if coworkers have the same issue.