Taxes

[MattM]

That's caring UPS expecting their employees to drop dead, instead of growing a family (adding dependents.)

Even though they switched to the dumb worksheets, I was able to get the W-4 adjusted to withhold the minimal amount. (Unless something has changed.) The IRS has a withholding calculator, but it is probably *.

Certain illegal residents (especially in construction,) were claiming 99 allowances on their W-4s, and then not filing taxes for years. If the IRS came after them, they would just make up a new name & fake-o SS#, then disappear.

I think at 10 allowances it’s pretty much set to have zero taxes withheld lol. 99 would be excessive. At that point though, many just need to claim Exempt if they always receive a refund because of child credit or other large credits. Then again, doing it to skirt the law isn’t on the table for most.

Page 48 shows the old method

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/p15--2019.pdf

—
It’s not even so much a withholding calculator, but you can look at past tax returns and estimate what your tax liability will be
—
Having the least amount of taxes withheld would be to currently claim married with two jobs.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15t.pdf

For someone making $1000 a week for example claiming single with two jobs would have nearly
Triple the amount withheld as someone claiming married one with one job.

Your best bet, use the withholding calculator or a tax estimator to Get and idea of what your liabilities are. It’s not rocket science. If you’re single and make $100,000 a year, you’ll owe $14,774 in taxes. That averages out to about $284 taxen out weekly. Looking at the current tax table, ups would be estimated to take out $274 for a $1923 weekly check. At that point you’re nearly breaking even. That’s a great thing.
Kids are worth $2,000 in tax credits so a single parent could be walking with a $1800 rebate if they stick with their single w4 destination. They could move it to head of household,
Get back $60 more into each paycheck but end up owing $1,000 come tax time. That’s also when you can add in the extra withholdings and withhold $19 to break even


I work with too many bozos who stuck with the old zero allowances and are happy with thousands in overpayment funds. They don’t realize they could withhold less and actually throw that into retirement and also lower your tax liability all in one move. It’s kind of crazy how brain dead many coworkers are with their taxes.

 

[Commercial Inside Release]

Tax Withholding Estimator | Internal Revenue Service

Check your W-4 tax withholding with the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator. See how your withholding affects your refund, paycheck or tax due.

www.irs.gov

Re: 99 allowances
For a while prior to 2019, the IRS tried penalizing people that claimed too many allowances, in the spirit of the laws focused on estimated quarterly tax. The 10 allowances rule is pretty new.

Choose 10 allowances and stick the money in a high yield CD, bond, savings account, or trade with the money... Then give it back to the IRS at the end of the year, but keep the interest\earnings, of course.

That's what the treasury does with your money, might as well do it back to them.

If you really want to be a badaxe put a credit in your utility account of less than a dollar, then don't pay it for 3-4 months and invest that money, too. A lot of utilities companies are limited to charging 1% for a late fee. You could be making 4-20% with that money, instead of the power company.

If your utilities are $300-800\mo that could be $900-2400 to play with... screw 'em!

 

[KearsargeCoop]

This thread is awesome

 

[rod]

I honestly wouldn’t mess with it. You can change the amount of dependents you claim but I claim single 0 and I’m married with 3 kids. I would rather them take out too much and give it back than owe the IRS money.

So you would rather the government used your money even when you could be investing it? smh

 

[MattM]

So you would rather the government used your money even when you could be investing it? smh

Nine out of ten people I interact with tend to not know that tax refunds are TAX OVERPAYMENTS. Truly nothing more. Sure there’s some tax credits for kids. But by and large, you’re simply getting back what you overpaid on, it’s not free money.

I have a few coworkers who are married with kids but still claim zero (old method) so they can have more withheld each paycheck and end up with a huge tax refund. I don’t get people who budget their year around their February return funds. Even if you owe, the underpayment penalty is not that harsh. It’s basically a free loan if you have to owe by end of the year.

 

[Yeet]

So you would rather the government used your money even when you could be investing it? smh

Yeah that’s about the gist of it.

 

[KearsargeCoop]

I have to be honest, I've never looked at the IRS tax estimator tool.

Thanks for all the good tips and knowledge. Much appreciated

 

[MattM]

I have to be honest, I've never looked at the IRS tax estimator tool.

Thanks for all the good tips and knowledge. Much appreciated

TurboTax has a TaxCaster app. It doesn’t apply all credits or deductions but it shows you the basic math involved in a very straight forward fashion.

A married driver making $100,000 annually will owe about $8200 in taxes. That amounts to about $157 per paycheck. If you are somehow withholding $300, you may be due for a hefty refund. Likewise if you are somehow withholding only $100, you may owe
Children are worth $2,000 each in tax breaks, so your liability drops and you’d owe just $6200 ( or $120 weekly).

Tax refunds are merely overpayments that you made

Too many thank the government come taxtime as if the refund is truly free money.

A married family man making $52,000 with one kid would owe about $400 for the year, or $8 per paycheck. I know some guys who work PT at Ups who fall within this and they all withhold $30-$50 per $500 paycheck). That $1500 tax refund they receive and gloat about is merely their own money coming back to them.

Each one of those guys would be better off throwing at least 1% into their 401k, so they’d have $500 less in tax liability with the At minimum 10% tax savings (with an average of 10% growth on whatever you invest in). But nope. They’ll let the government have a interest free loan with their money for the year instead of lowering their own liability

 

[KearsargeCoop]

TurboTax has a TaxCaster app. It doesn’t apply all credits or deductions but it shows you the basic math involved in a very straight forward fashion.

A married driver making $100,000 annually will owe about $8200 in taxes. That amounts to about $157 per paycheck. If you are somehow withholding $300, you may be due for a hefty refund. Likewise if you are somehow withholding only $100, you may owe
Children are worth $2,000 each in tax breaks, so your liability drops and you’d owe just $6200 ( or $120 weekly).

Tax refunds are merely overpayments that you made

Too many thank the government come taxtime as if the refund is truly free money.

A married family man making $52,000 with one kid would owe about $400 for the year, or $8 per paycheck. I know some guys who work PT at Ups who fall within this and they all withhold $30-$50 per $500 paycheck). That $1500 tax refund they receive and gloat about is merely their own money coming back to them.

Each one of those guys would be better off throwing at least 1% into their 401k, so they’d have $500 less in tax liability with the At minimum 10% tax savings (with an average of 10% growth on whatever you invest in). But nope. They’ll let the government have a interest free loan with their money for the year instead of lowering their own liability

Great stuff. Thanks for the time.

 

[sailfish]

Taxation is theft.

 

[ManInBrown]

Try this

Click on the three lines on the top of upsers
Click on myHR
Scroll down a bit to workday
Now do a search for w-4
Results should show ADD FEDERAL WITHHOLDING ELECTIONS. Or find the one that says WITHHOLDING ELECTIONS. At the bottom of that page should have a link to UPDATE.
After the fact you can use the other links to View your withholding elections past and present from the payroll interface screen

I agree it’s way too complicated to do the most basic thing

Withholdings along with your direct deposit info used to be on one page in or around your paycheck viewer. Not any more.

It became complicated because the Trump admin changed the tax laws. You used to be able to go right on and in 3 seconds change your withholdings. You could change them every week. Many drivers I know would change dependents to 18 the week they used triple time day.

 

[BobJ]

Anyone else having problems with the State withholding?

estimate using the online tax calculator from the government;
I'm getting a refund from Federal, but have to pay State taxes...

There is a way to increase Federal withholding, but not State.
So I'm going to write a check in April, then wait for a refund in May, to come out even.

 

[MattM]

It became complicated because the Trump admin changed the tax laws. You used to be able to go right on and in 3 seconds change your withholdings. You could change them every week. Many drivers I know would change dependents to 18 the week they used triple time day.

Once you know where it’s located on the website, it’s easy to change. How long ago were they changing things weekly? I know it used it be located within the view paycheck interface. I have yet to change mine up with the recent changes so I don’t know how quickly it applies to our paychecks.

One could still technically change theirs weekly. But I agree. It’s gotten complicated.

One now needs to go to step 3, add up their ‘dependents’ or ‘kids’ multiply by $2,000 or $500 and enter your own info on the sheet. This is where 0-1-2-3-4 is hidden now. Now you can simply enter 25,000 with the assumption you have 10 kids and 10 dependents. Your work will now have to calculate these deductions when they withhold money on your weekly check. Since you have $25,000 in deductions, your work may withhold nearly zero on a triple pay paycheck.

Other than claiming exempt, there is no law binding you from ‘lying’ on the withholding form. The question comes down to timing and how many times you can change it up. I have yet to experiment.

I know with our 401k, you can change your percentages the Thursday before for the following weeks paycheck. Your stocks through computershare take more time than that. It’s about a two pay period turnaround for changes to pop up.

 

[BobJ]

What happens if you exceed the 401k contribution limit?

 

[Babagounj]

Either now or later Uncle Sam always gets your money while you are alive or dead.

 

[Commercial Inside Release]

Anyone else having problems with the State withholding

Not sure, but in the past heard of someone that transfered to a new center, and UPS was still withholding their state taxes from the state they left.

So, state withholding probably has to be fixed by payroll. Good luck.

 

[BobJ]

Not sure, but in the past heard of someone that transfered to a new center, and UPS was still withholding their state taxes from the state they left.

So, state withholding probably has to be fixed by payroll. Good luck.

Didn't transfer. Only started happening in 2021, then again with 2022 returns.

Had to increase Federal withholding just to break even for 2023 (hopefully).

 

[Commercial Inside Release]

Your state probably has state withholding, and may even have a state W-4 (or some equivalent.) If your allowances changed it may not have been updated by payroll for state withholding.

 

[MattM]

What happens if you exceed the 401k contribution limit?

It’s messy and sloppy. Please don’t go that route. You will be penalized. You will be given a corrected w2 after the fact along with a possible 1099-R form. You will likely be forced to withdraw those extra funds early with a double taxation/early withdrawal penalty.

It’s up to you to know when you’re approaching the limit and drop the number down to zero. You can change the figure with empower the Thursday or Friday prior to the week you want changed.

 

[pkgdriver]

It’s messy and sloppy. Please don’t go that route. You will be penalized. You will be given a corrected w2 after the fact along with a possible 1099-R form. You will likely be forced to withdraw those extra funds early with a double taxation/early withdrawal penalty.

It’s up to you to know when you’re approaching the limit and drop the number down to zero. You can change the figure with empower the Thursday or Friday prior to the week you want changed.

Prudential/Empower has always stopped my contributions to the 401k when it hit the limit. This was usually in end of Aug/Sept for me.