I’m weird in that I maintain a big spreadsheet to track each deduction on my paystubs, and that it includes formulas to calculate my withholding. I don’t know of anyone else who does this — but I trust neither the Federal government nor my employer’s HR department and I get peace of mind knowing that everything is correct down to the last dime.
To get the math correct for federal taxes, I refer annually to the IRS Publication 15T, which is the instruction packet given to employers to correctly calculate how much to withhold from my pay based on my W4.
I aim to get a $0 refund on my federal taxes each year. I don’t want to pay penalties, nor do I want to over-withhold and loan the government my pay, interest-free, for the whole year. The new tax laws enacted July 4 are giving me some confusion, however.
Using the calculations provided in 15T, my deductions were correct to break even on taxes for the first 6 months of the year. But then, when the standard deduction was increased (MFJ) from $30,000 to $31,500 in July, the IRS did not issue a new 15T. Because my annual income will appear less, will I miss my break-even target and end up with a refund on my 2025 taxes?