Tax Increase?

[ewok55]

Anybody else see a tax rate INCREASE (regarding withholding amounts) on their first paycheck of 2018? Politics aside, I was expecting a decrease based on everything I had seen in the news. I will be meeting with my CPA next week but thought I'd see if anybody else had made similar observations...

2017 Withholding / 2018 Withholding
1.45% / 1.53% - Medicare
3.88% / 3.94% - State Taxes
6.2% / 6.53% - Social Security
10.95% / 11.07% - Federal Taxes
22.48% / 23.07% -Total

[nrialto]

Just compared my own... my withholdings went down slightly in all categories... I think.

On another note, while filing my taxes a couple of weeks ago, I learned that the tax-breaks, increased deductions, etc. don't take effect until next year (in 2019 when filing for 2018).

[sunny2012]

A federal pay raise went into effect with pay period 01 so your withholdings increased accordingly.

https://federalnewsradio.com/pay/2017/1 ... -for-2018/

[Travis1984]

Not sure where you are on the scale or what your deductions were. I’m married 5, and I saw an increase of 55$ per check.

[meddian]

If you are a Fed and paid under NFC, please refer to NFC USDA Bulletin below. DOD military and some Fed agencies are paid under DFAS. You can also SIGN up wit USDA to have alerts sent to you.

The National Finance Center (NFC) is informing its customers that beginning with pay period (PP) 25 some employees may see a change in their federal or state withholding tax amounts. This is due to the 2018 tax year having 27 salary payments instead of the usual 26 salary payments. Employee’s tax deductions could be affected as bi-weekly salary payments are annualized to compute the salary from which related tax withholdings are calculated. Please refer to the NFC Bulletin located on the NFC home page; https://www.nfc.usda.gov/Publications/H ... -18-02.htm

[cswift01]

Just compared my own... my withholdings went down slightly in all categories... I think.

On another note, while filing my taxes a couple of weeks ago, I learned that the tax-breaks, increased deductions, etc. don't take effect until next year (in 2019 when filing for 2018).

This is because we are now sending in the taxes for 2017 (by April). The new tax code, however, should still take some time to get worked into the pay. I think I read somewhere that DFAS would have it worked out in February. Don't quote me please on that one.

Anybody else see a tax rate INCREASE (regarding withholding amounts) on their first paycheck of 2018? Politics aside, I was expecting a decrease based on everything I had seen in the news. I will be meeting with my CPA next week but thought I'd see if anybody else had made similar observations...

2017 Withholding / 2018 Withholding
1.45% / 1.53% - Medicare
3.88% / 3.94% - State Taxes
6.2% / 6.53% - Social Security
10.95% / 11.07% - Federal Taxes
22.48% / 23.07% -Total

I checked MyPay but I cannot see all of the percentages like you have been able to see. Hopefully someone will help you more on that situation.

I would also throw out to check your quarterly TSP information. I found that in the past 10 years, several hundred dollars had been withdrawn by my agency for no reason. Hopefully I'm a singleton on that issue.

Best,

Me

[kdfwr310]

Just compared mine, and the rates are the same as 2017 for Medicare and SS Tax. I'll have to do the math on the others listed.

[evilanne]

Check you calculations...I don't see any reason the SS should be higher. Did you receive a bonus or anything different for the pay period in question?

[managingts]

The rates for SS and Medicare should be the same as those from 2017.

[SurelyJame]

Yes, my taxes increased. I will no longer be able to itemize, so I will pay more taxes in 2018, therefore I adjusted withholding accordingly.

[ewok55]

Check you calculations...I don't see any reason the SS should be higher. Did you receive a bonus or anything different for the pay period in question?

No bonus or anything like that ... Only thing I can think of that might be affecting it is that I have 5% of my pay going into the tax-deferred TSP, so that amount would have gone up slightly with the 1.6% COLA raise I got... I'm hoping that they just didn't adjust withholding, and I will get a refund in 2019 to reflect it.

[meddian]

This is a good read:

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/in-2018-so ... -unchanged

[SnareMV17]

This is a good read:

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/in-2018-so ... -unchanged

Almost all of that is outdated as of the new tax bill and no longer applies. The standard deductions are much higher now, especially.

[mhende2]

tax withholding change starting 1 Feb. I assume that means will first see it around mid Feb pay statement since 2 week lag in pay.

[evilanne]

Check you calculations...I don't see any reason the SS should be higher. Did you receive a bonus or anything different for the pay period in question?

No bonus or anything like that ... Only thing I can think of that might be affecting it is that I have 5% of my pay going into the tax-deferred TSP, so that amount would have gone up slightly with the 1.6% COLA raise I got... I'm hoping that they just didn't adjust withholding, and I will get a refund in 2019 to reflect it.

OASDI $ Amount should be divided by [Gross minus (FEHB & FSA/HSA)]. You pay SS taxes on the amount that you put in TSP. For Traditional TSP the difference in-between Block 1 & 3 on your W-2 is typically your tax deferred contributions (Code D in Block 12).