probably a stupid question - we owe federal taxes

[shygirl]

forgive my ignorance....

I just did our taxes - and we owe $965 in federal.  Not a lot, but what do i change on my withholdings in my paycheck to not owe next year?  Can i say I want an extra $100 taken out of my check year each month to make up for this?  We are married filing jointly, so does it matter which one does the reduction?

[tres3]

You just need to adjust your withholdings. you can either reduce your deductions by one or ask them to withhold an extra $50/pay period (assuming you are paid biweekly).

[babsbunny]

While preferences vary by person, I personally would not change my contributions if I was off by less than $1k because it allows me to keep the money longer and earning interest (albeit itty bitty interest).

[Deleted]

Feb 14, 2016 15:25:42 GMT -5 babsbunny said:

While preferences vary by person, I personally would not change my contributions if I was off by less than $1k because it allows me to keep the money longer and earning interest (albeit itty bitty interest).

This, but if you really want to change your withholdings then it's done by changing your W4 (talk to your HR rep).

[aurora]

Yes, you can definitely ask to withhold an additional $x per pay period if you want to.

[LoveTrains]

Yes, we have an extra $50 with held from my H's check for taxes. It's a line on the W4.

[megstoo]

You can also change your withholdings to Married withhold at a single rate. That works for some.


For us we both have married but withhold at a single rate and I have an additional $50 taken from each paycheck for federal. This along with our deductions leads to a large refund for us

[chimera]

Run the iRS calculator
www.irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator


We were almost on this year with deductions, we are getting back $161 from the fed, but owe state and local due to idiots with DH's payroll company screwing up on their end.

I'm dumping more in retirement next year and charitable contributions are going up. So we need to adjust.

[Deleted]

Feb 15, 2016 10:59:23 GMT -5 chimera said:

Run the iRS calculator
www.irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator


We were almost on this year with deductions, we are getting back $161 from the fed, but owe state and local due to idiots with DH's payroll company screwing up on their end.

I'm dumping more in retirement next year and charitable contributions are going up. So we need to adjust.

We're going to do a bunch of rebalancing this year for the same reasons. We owe $1,500 :-( it'll be worse next year since we're renting and not getting a mortgage interest deduction.

Our plan is to do everything possible to lower our taxable income by increasing deductions, stepping up tax-benefitted savings and increasing our charitable giving.