How much federal taxes are supposed to be taken out of pay checks?

Answer 1

First your paycheck with your NET take home pay (net pay after all deductions) that you have in your hand will not have anything withheld from it because it is issued to you after all of the necessary taxes and other amounts that the employer is required to withhold from your gross wages, salary, earnings, etc.

You should get this information from your employer payroll department as they will be the one that would know how much FICA, federal income tax, state income, local taxes, etc they will have to withhold from your hourly pay or gross pay for the pay period. They will do this before they issue your net take home paycheck to you

I don't know what the above is trying to address...net pay is the amount of the check after withholding and any other amount you have deducted...but the Q has nothing to do with net pay it is how to determine withholding on income. And the amount of that is determined by many things, and even the "gross pay" used may not be what you expect (it is not simply your salary in most cases), as many things not in your pay are required to be considered as income for tax (and tax withholding) purposes.

There is no specific fixed amount or percent. Two people working at the same job, making the same wage may (an almost always do) have much different amounts required to be withheld. THE AMOUNT OR PERCENT IS ENTIRELY WITHIN YOUR CONTROL...YOU ESSENTIALLY TELL THE EMPLOYER HOW MUCH BY PROPERLY (or not) FILING YOUR W-4. It does not effect the tax you ultimately pay, just how much you have paid toward it.

It depends on many, many things...not the least of which is what you consider tax. Many people group all their withholdings as a type of tax, but many may not be. Workers Comp, Unemployment, even FICA are all really more an insurance payment than a withholding against an income tax.

The amount of tax withheld also depends on many other things...obviously which state (or even city) your in, the amount of income your projected on earning over the year, (which helps determine your tax bracket and the percent that may be required), as well as your filing status, number of dependents and other deductions (like interest on a mortgage) or contributions to 401K, or medical and other benefits you selected, etc., etc.

All these things can be adjusted for your circumstances by properly and completely filling out (or changing) the Form W-4 all employers ask you to. The variations are so numerous that again, it is fair to say that it would be uncommon for 2 people, working at the same job making the same salary would have the same amount withheld.

There are even a number of different legal ways for the payroll provider to calculate the amount to withhold considering all the above...but overall they make only a small difference.

Remember, anything withheld is just being done as an estimated installment payment toward whatever tax, if any, you do ultimately owe. If too much is withheld, it is refunded. (Too little, and you could pay a penalty and interest charges). Again, adjusting your W-4 is the way to correct for any of these circumstances. Just follow the instructions and examples for that form and you should have a very close amount for what is needed withheld for your situation...if for any number of reasons including those above, the situation changes... you will need to change the W-4.