Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Getting the Right Amount of Tax Withheld

In most situations, the tax withheld from your pay will be close to the tax you figure on your return if you follow these two rules.
* You accurately complete all the forms W-4 worksheets that apply to you
*You give your employer a new form W-4 when changes occur

But because the worksheets and the withholding methods do not account for all possible situations, you may not be getting the right amount withheld. This is most likely to happen in the following situations
*You are married and both you and your spouse work
*You have more than one job at a time
*You have non wage income, such as interest, dividends, alimony, unemployment compensation, or self-employment income
*You will owe additional amounts with your return, such as self-employment tax
*Your withholding is based on obsolete Form W-4 information for a substantial part of the year
*Your earnings are more than $130000 if you are single or $180000 if you are married
*You work only part of the year
*You change the number of your withholding allowances during the year

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