Okay, I admit it…I’m 24, and I send my W-2s to my dad so he can do my taxes for me. I never had to worry about them while living at home, and now, we’re a state away, so he can’t just sit down with me and explain it. So, I sent them to him on Monday, he got them on Friday, and Saturday he calls me up with this little bit.
I apparently owe the government a little over NINEHUNDRED DOLLARS!!!
Okay, now, just for the record. I’m 24. I’m single. I have no dependants. According to this information, I should be getting something back, just out of principle. So, what’s the deal?
Well, according to my last paycheck stub from my current job, I had over $2500 taken out of my paycheck for taxes. Somehow, my W-2 form says I only had $1090 taken out. I had another part time job, and the difference between what my last paystub for them and my W-2 for them is a little over $400.
Does anyone know what the HELL IS GOING ON!?!?!?!?!? or had a similar experience?
First, check and make sure your SSN is correctly reported on W2s and check stubs. If those are right…
When you look at your last check stub, are you looking at the total of taxes taken out over the year (including SS)? If so, check just what’s taken out for…FICA, I believe*. If you can’t get them to reconcile, talk to the HR/Personnel people at your job and see if you can figure out why they’re different.
*I’m guilty of this every year - I look first at the total taxes taken out, forgetting that I have to remember that not everything taken out is a potential refund.
Oh, and single, no dependents? Unless you own a house, you’ll pay a lot more than you expect in taxes.
Taxes, yuck. My mom did my taxes while I was in school, and now that I’m finally a Grown Up, and in the Real World, I’m not enjoying doing them myself for the first time.
Especially since I have to do returns from two different states. Big pain in the ass.
Judgin that both of your w-2’s seem to have discrepancies I’m going to guess that Lsura might be on the right track and you’re comparing the wrong totals.
One reason you may be owing more is because of the two jobs. Taxes are with-held assuming your salary each pay period is what you will make all year. Your part time job was probably being taxed at a very low rate since a part time employee will have a low annual salary. However, since your total salary also included your full-time job, all of you salary is taxable at the higher rate, meaning you’ll owe more than you’ve paid.
If you are down to one job, this shouldn’t be an issue in the future. You can also usually request more or less to be withheld if you’re worried about this cropping up again next year.
(Doing taxes is really not very hard if you’re single with no dependents. Especially if you use the standard deduction, which you may or may not do. The booklets that come with the forms explain everything fairly well. You might want to take a stab at doing your own, and compare them with your dad’s version and see how you do. It’s a good thing to know how to do. There are also a lot of tax software programs out there that make it even easier.)