changing my tax withholdings (need help with W-4)

[skim milk]

How to maximize what I get from my paycheck?
I'm at my first job out of college and I think I did something wrong because none of the my co-workers who are in the same shoes as me are getting taxed as much.

A. Enter 1 for yourself if no one else can claim you as a dependent
Do I put 1 here? My parents can claim me as a dependent?

B. Enter 1 if You are single and have only one job
I am single and have only one job

C. Enter 1 for your spouse
I have no spouse so I'll leave it blank

D. Enter number of dependents
I have no dependents

E. Enter 1 if you will file as head of household
What to file as here?

F. Enter 1 if you have at least 1,500 child or dependent care expenses
Not applicable to me

Do I claim exemption from withholding for 2008?

I really have no clue about this tax stuff and could use some help
thanks

 

[darkxshade]

You need to pick up the W-4 AT edition, 1 is already filled in for B

 

[QED]

You are not head of a household, so the total number of exemptions you "should" file is 2.

Do this for the tax year, and next year when you file your taxes make note of whether you were due a refund, or you still owed money to the IRS. Your goal is to get as close to breaking even as possible-- so if you still owed the IRS money, decrease your W-4 exemptions. If you were due a refund, increase your W-4 exemptions.

 

[amdskip]

You are not a dependent.

 

[skim milk]

Originally posted by: QED
You are not head of a household, so the total number of exemptions you "should" file is 2.

Do this for the tax year, and next year when you file your taxes make note of whether you were due a refund, or you still owed money to the IRS. Your goal is to get as close to breaking even as possible-- so if you still owed the IRS money, decrease your W-4 exemptions. If you were due a refund, increase your W-4 exemptions.

so how should this form be filled out A - H?
for the number of exemptions to be 2

 

[QED]

Originally posted by: fritolays

Originally posted by: QED
You are not head of a household, so the total number of exemptions you "should" file is 2.

Do this for the tax year, and next year when you file your taxes make note of whether you were due a refund, or you still owed money to the IRS. Your goal is to get as close to breaking even as possible-- so if you still owed the IRS money, decrease your W-4 exemptions. If you were due a refund, increase your W-4 exemptions.

so how should this form be filled out A - H?
for the number of exemptions to be 2

A: 1 (your parents shouldn't be able to claim you as a dependent anymore-- you are out of college and presumably still not living at home).

B: 1 (you are single and only have 1 job)

C: 0 (you have no spouse)
D: 0 (you have no dependents)
E: 0 (you are not head of a household)
F: 0 (you do not have $1500 of dependent or child care expenses)

Total: 2

 

[Christobevii3]

Taxes are so retardedly worded, i just put mine as 1 and will get a rebate till I figure out what I need to put. What does head of household even meaning? I don't own a house, but i pay rent?

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: Christobevii3
Taxes are so retardedly worded, i just put mine as 1 and will get a rebate till I figure out what I need to put. What does head of household even meaning? I don't own a house, but i pay rent?

HOH is when youare not married, but have someone dependant on you for support and is not able to be claimed by another.

 

[Brainonska511]

You could probably do a rough estimate of how much you should pay in taxes and then figure out what number to put down on your W4.

 

[skim milk]

Originally posted by: Brainonska511
You could probably do a rough estimate of how much you should pay in taxes and then figure out what number to put down on your W4.

I'm paying 35% just on taxes now which seems very high after asking my co-workers who are also recent college grads.. and I don't make that much
how much should I be paying in taxes? I'm working in Va.

 

[QED]

Originally posted by: fritolays

Originally posted by: Brainonska511
You could probably do a rough estimate of how much you should pay in taxes and then figure out what number to put down on your W4.

I'm paying 35% just on taxes now which seems very high after asking my co-workers who are also recent college grads.. and I don't make that much
how much should I be paying in taxes? I'm working in Va.

That seems high, but how is this broken down? What percentage is your federal tax? What percentage is your state tax? Your local tax? Your SS tax? Your medicare tax?

 

[skim milk]

Originally posted by: QED

Originally posted by: fritolays

Originally posted by: Brainonska511
You could probably do a rough estimate of how much you should pay in taxes and then figure out what number to put down on your W4.

I'm paying 35% just on taxes now which seems very high after asking my co-workers who are also recent college grads.. and I don't make that much
how much should I be paying in taxes? I'm working in Va.

That seems high, but how is this broken down? What percentage is your federal tax? What percentage is your state tax? Your local tax? Your SS tax? Your medicare tax?

from my paycheck a few weeks ago

FICA-OASDI - around 6% of paycheck
FEDERAL W/H TAX - around 22%
FICA-HI - around 1.5%
STATE Tax - around 5%

does it look high?

 

[EagleKeeper]

What was the withholding exemptions at that time.

To avoid tax issues, the max you should have is 1 more than the number of non working people in your household.

Anything else, would indicate that you know what you are doing to manipulate the system.

 

[sciencewhiz]

Are you making around 100k?

 

[skim milk]

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
What was the withholding exemptions at that time.

To avoid tax issues, the max you should have is 1 more than the number of non working people in your household.

Anything else, would indicate that you know what you are doing to manipulate the system.

I think I had 2
1 for HOH and 1 for being single with one job

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: fritolays

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
What was the withholding exemptions at that time.

To avoid tax issues, the max you should have is 1 more than the number of non working people in your household.

Anything else, would indicate that you know what you are doing to manipulate the system.

I think I had 2
1 for HOH and 1 for being single with one job

Having it set at 2 will keep you safe from penalties.

You may have to send in some $$ at the end of the tax year

 

[spidey07]

two should be fine, your taxes don't sound out of the ordinary or high at all and are actually pretty low.

Then after you file for this year you can adjust based on how much you owe/refund.

 

[skim milk]

Originally posted by: spidey07
two should be fine, your taxes don't sound out of the ordinary or high at all and are actually pretty low.

Then after you file for this year you can adjust based on how much you owe/refund.

isn't 35% almost the highest tax bracket?
I'm a recent college grad, single but I do not make that much.
Why am I getting taxed so much?
During my internship, it was around 20-25%
But here, I'm at 35%
I read online that it should be near 28%?

 

[spidey07]

35% is the highest FEDERAL tax, you're only paying 22. What most likely happened is you're making between 30 and 70K while as an intern you were less than 30. 35% is totally normal for all your taxes starting out. Completely normal. Welcome to the real world, it only gets worse the more you make.

If taxable income is over-- But not over-- The tax is:
$0 $7,825 10% of the amount over $0
$7,825 $31,850 $782.50 plus 15% of the amount over 7,825
$31,850 $77,100 $4,386.25 plus 25% of the amount over 31,850
$77,100 $160,850 $15,698.75 plus 28% of the amount over 77,100
$160,850 $349,700 $39,148.75 plus 33% of the amount over 160,850
$349,700 no limit $101,469.25 plus 35% of the amount over 349,700

 

[EagleKeeper]

Your 35% is taking into account all the withholdings.

The numbers you hear bandied around are for the Federal only.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
What was the withholding exemptions at that time.

To avoid tax issues, the max you should have is 1 more than the number of non working people in your household.

Anything else, would indicate that you know what you are doing to manipulate the system.

That doesn't seem quite right. A lot depends on what your deductions are ...
For instance, I pay just under 20% of my gross income on interest for my mortgage (which I can write off.) My property tax is also a write off (about 5% of my gross income.)

If I were to use "2" on my W4, I'd still be overpaying by a significant figure. I use a 4 and I expect to still get a decent refund.

EDIT: my bad, I misinterpreted Common Courtesy's point. "manipulate" as in "work your way around" not "cheat the system." Sorry about that.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Note the last line of my post which you quoted.

Other things can come into play - however the OP is single and fresh out of college.

Bringing the Schedules A-E into play along with many of the other forms can change the picture immensely.

He was looking for a simple case answer, it was provided.