How much of my paycheck should I set aside for my taxes?

Question

I have a part-time job that does not deduct federal tax from my paycheck. I am single with no dependents and I will probably make around $4000 this year from it. What percentage of my paycheck should I set aside to pay my taxes?

Answer 1

Are they taking out social security and medicare? If not, then you are being treated as an independent contractor and will owe a little over 15% of your income from this job, about $600, for self-employment taxes for social security and medicare, in addition to income taxes.

Your income tax will depend on what other income you have, on what your tax bracket is. The most common tax bracket is 15%. And depending on where you live, there might also be state and/or local income taxes.

If they aren't taking out social security, set aside about 1/3 for taxes. If they are, set aside about 20%.

Answer 2

You probably don't need to set aside anything if Social Security taxes and state income taxes are being withheld.

What will likely happen is that your refund will be reduced between $600 and $1000 from last year. If you think that you are going to owe more than $1000 this year because of the part time job, then file a new W-4 and request that they withhold between $30 and $50 a week from your paychecks for the rest of the year.

Answer 3

This is a difficult question to answer, being that we have no other information to work with. If all your income for this year will be $4000.00:

You will not have to pay anything for income taxes, and here is why: for 2007, if you file as Single, and your income falls between $0 and $7,285, then you will owe 10% of your income to the IRS. Making $4,000, you would owe $400.00.

However, the standard deduction for most people in 2006 was $5,150. You would deduct that amount from your income to determine what your is your tax liabilty. In this example, you income is brought down to $0, which means you would owe nothing. Of course, the standard deduction changes ever year, and is usually indexed for inflation, so it will mosty likely increase for 2007, which has no adverse effect on you.

That being said, there may be money that you owe for social security, and other items that is generally withheld by employers. I would suggest that you do two things:

1.) Go to www.irs.gov. There are many puclications there available to read, and FAQs.

2.) Call the IRS, at 1-800-829-1040. They are able to answer your tax questions, and where better to go than to the source.

A word to the wise: as knowledgeable and well meaning as most people on this web site are, myself included, YOU are ultimately responsible for filing your taxes correctly.

Answer 4

If you are not married and have no dependents, the government usually takes about 20-25%. My weekly check is about $1500 and i only see about $1000 of it after all the tax, social security, medical insurance, and etc. So I'd set aside about 25-30% to be on the safe side.

Answer 5

Set aside about 500 bucks

Answer 6

You'll have to pay 13.3% in self employment taxes plus you'll be in at least the 25% tax bracket, possibly higher. You need to send in quarterly payments. If you don't send payments quarterly, you will be assessed a huge fine even if you pay your bill in full by April 15th next year. For a couple hundred dollars or less a qualified accountant or tax preparer will look at your situation and help you determine how much to pay quarterly. This will pay for itself in savings by not being fined from the IRS if you mess up your quarterly payments.

Answer 7

I would set aside like $400 bucks which is 10%

Answer 8

i would just put 10% in my savings and ear mark it for next years taxes.

Answer 9

Zero, you will probably owe nothing if that is all you will make.