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Paid a lot in taxes and I still owe? Why why why?

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dhahlen

Junior Member
Arizona

I filed at a Married-0 rate and paid an extra $20 per pay period (every two weeks). I did work two jobs for a short time, and my wife also worked. All 3 jobs had a filing status of Married-0, and I annotated on my W4 for my part time job that it was a secondary income so it increased the taxes further.

We had a combined income of roughly 76k, and I believe our tax liability is 8k. We ended up owing around $800 to federal and $500 to state.

I am curious on why I owe so much even after I put a lot in? Is it because of the part time job (made roughly 11k part time), my full time salary was around 40k and my wife pulled in roughly 26k.

Should I file Married but With holding at a single rate? I don't like forking over 1.5k at the end of the year. I rather pay it by paycheck and not worry about it.

I am also a student beginning this year, so I believe that may help next year?

How can I make it so I don't always owe a ton. I figured doing M-0 would help and we owe more than last year!
 


TinkerBelleLuvr

Senior Member
IRS withholding calculator

http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96196,00.html


Whenever you work multiple jobs/ have spouses that work, it is common that you may underpay. I suggest using the above calculator to avoid the same problem in 2008.

As for why?
The withholding tables used to calculate your withholding has no way of knowing that you are working 2 jobs, or that a spouse is working. Each wage stacks. The more you make, the greater the percentage of federal tax.
 

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