Why is FITWH tax suddenly being withheld from my part time job after years of nothing?

I've been juggling a full time and part time gig for about 5 years now. My part time job is consistently 16 hours weekly at a local retail store. For the longest time, they weren't taking any federal taxes out of my part time checks, which was fine since I compensated by adding extra withholding on my W-4 at my primary job. Last month, I switched to a new full time position and filled out all the new hire paperwork, including a fresh W-4. I answered all the multiple job questions truthfully, indicating I had both jobs. Nothing unusual there. But now, out of nowhere, my part time job started withholding FITWH tax from my paycheck! The amount isn't huge (about $42 per check), but I'm confused why this suddenly changed when I've had this arrangement for years. I didn't file any new paperwork with my part time employer recently. Has something changed with withholding rules this year? Or could my new employer somehow have triggered this? I'm concerned about potentially being over-withheld now since I already adjusted my main job's W-4 to cover both incomes.

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18 comments

Sienna Gomez

•8M

What likely happened is that the IRS's employer systems are now more integrated than before. When you filled out that W-4 at your new full-time job and indicated you had multiple jobs, that information may have been shared with the IRS, which then updated withholding instructions for your part-time employer. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and subsequent IRS modernization efforts have improved information sharing between employers for withholding purposes. This helps prevent under-withholding, which used to be common with multiple jobs. You should review your total withholding across both jobs. Since you previously added extra withholding to compensate for your part-time job not withholding FITWH, you probably need to adjust your W-4 at your new full-time job to reduce that extra withholding. Otherwise, as you suspected, you might end up over-withholding and giving the government an interest-free loan until refund time.

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Sienna Gomez

•8M

I'd recommend waiting 2-3 pay periods to see the pattern in withholding from both jobs. This gives you a better baseline to make adjustments from. Once you have that information, use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator tool online to calculate exactly how much should be withheld total between both jobs. You don't need to worry about making changes too quickly - the W-4 can be updated anytime during the year as your situation changes. Just make sure when you do update it, you're accounting for the total income from both jobs and the withholding that's already happening at the part-time job now.

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Kirsuktow DarkBlade

•8M

After dealing with similar withholding confusion between my two jobs, I tried taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) and it really helped clarify my situation. I uploaded my paystubs from both jobs and it analyzed my withholding patterns, then suggested exactly how to adjust my W-4 to get the right amount withheld. The really cool part was that it estimated my total tax liability based on both incomes combined and compared it to my current withholding rate. Turns out I was heading toward owing about $1,800 at tax time because my withholding wasn't set up correctly between the two jobs! Their withholding calculator is way more detailed than the basic IRS one.

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Kirsuktow DarkBlade

•8M

The tax prediction was surprisingly accurate - within about $200 of my actual liability when I filed. Way better than my previous attempts at estimating. It does handle deductions like student loan interest and mortgage interest if you add that information. The basic analysis works from just paystubs, but you can enhance it by adding your other income sources and deductions. I added my side gig 1099 income and some investment dividends, and it incorporated everything correctly. The system actually prompts you to add these other income sources so you get a complete picture.

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Ahooker-Equator

•8M

I was really skeptical about taxr.ai when people mentioned it in another thread, but I gave it a shot because my withholding was a mess with multiple W-2 jobs. I was getting a small paycheck from one job and a larger one from another, and could never figure out if I was withholding enough total. The service actually identified that my smaller job was using the wrong withholding tables (they were calculating as if it was my only income). After following the recommendations to adjust both W-4s, my withholding is now almost exactly right. Will be getting a small refund instead of owing $3,200 like last year! Really helped me understand the multiple jobs withholding problem in a way that made sense.

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Anderson Prospero

•8M

If you need to actually speak with someone at the IRS about your withholding situation (which might be helpful here), I'd recommend using Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I spent two weeks trying to get through to the IRS about a similar multiple-job withholding problem and kept getting disconnected. Claimyr got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes. The agent was able to confirm that there was a flag on my account for multiple W-2 income sources that was triggering updated withholding instructions to both employers. They have a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c It was actually really helpful to talk to someone directly because they explained exactly why the withholding changed and how to properly adjust my W-4s to get the right amount withheld across both jobs.

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Anderson Prospero

•8M

They use an automated system that navigates the IRS phone tree and waits on hold for you. Once they get a human IRS agent on the line, the system calls your phone and connects you directly to that agent who's already waiting. It basically does the hold-waiting for you. Yes, they essentially keep calling and navigating the phone tree until they get through. The difference is that their system can make multiple attempts simultaneously and you only get connected once they actually have an agent on the line. You're not paying for the hold time - only for the successful connection. I was skeptical too but it genuinely worked after my many failed attempts.

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Toot-n-Mighty

•8M

I take back what I said about Claimyr being a scam. After my third rejection letter from the IRS about my withholding adjustment request, I was desperate and tried it. Within 35 minutes, I was talking to an actual IRS representative who pulled up my account. The agent confirmed that when you file a new W-4 with multiple jobs indicated, they now have an automated system that can flag your other employers about withholding adjustments. In my case, they were able to see both my W-4 submissions and explained why the system had triggered the change. They even helped me calculate the right withholding amount for both jobs combined and sent me the exact figures to put on new W-4s for each employer. Honestly worth every penny just to avoid the hours of hold music and repeated disconnects I'd been dealing with for weeks.

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Lena Kowalski

•8M

State withholding generally follows similar principles to federal, but each state has its own specific forms and calculation methods. For Illinois, they use your federal allowances as a starting point for state withholding calculations. I'd recommend checking the Illinois Department of Revenue website for their withholding calculator or Form IL-W-4. Since both jobs are now withholding correctly, you might just need to make sure your additional withholding amount on your full-time job's W-4 is adjusted downward to account for the new withholding happening at your part-time job. The goal is to get your total withholding across both jobs to match your expected tax liability.

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