How Much Does My Paycheck Have to Be Before Federal Taxes Are Taken Out?

Some workers think employees must earn a minimum amount before employers start withholding for federal taxes. That is not the case; there is no minimum amount you must make before a paycheck has withholding tax taken out. Not everyone has to file a federal income tax return, but even if you're not required to file a tax return, you're not tax exempt for withholding purposes. Even if you don’t earn enough money to file an income tax return, you have to file a return if you want to receive a refund.

The amount of tax withheld is found on your Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement. Your employer furnishes this form to you annually. The amount of tax that is withheld from your paycheck depends on the information you provide your employer with the W-4 form, which you fill out when you begin employment for an employer. On the W-4, you let your employer know whether to withhold tax at the higher single rate or the lower married rate, depending on your marital status. You can also claim allowances to have additional tax withheld. If you have too much tax withheld from your wages, you receive a refund after filing your annual income tax return. If you don't have sufficient tax withheld, you could pay a penalty. The IRS charges the penalty if your withholding amount doesn’t account for 90 percent of your tax liability for the current year or 100 percent of the previous year. The IRS uses the lesser amount of the two as the standard.

Income tax withholding is not just levied on your regular wages. If you receive a commission or bonus, your employer withholds tax amounts. The tax on “supplemental wages,” as the IRS refers to them, may be withheld in one of two ways depending on whether your employer combines your bonus or commission with your regular wages in your paycheck or issues a separate check. If the supplemental wages amount is included with your regular wages, tax is withheld is the same rate as applied to your wages.

You also have to pay FICA taxes. The Federal Insurance Contributions Act taxes fund both Social Security and Medicare.

Many states also impose their own income taxes, and if you live or work in one of these states, expect to have those amounts also withheld from your paycheck.

For the 2018 tax year, mandatory FICA deductions will be taken from all employee earnings up to $128,400 for Social Security and with no cap for Medicare. The FICA tax rate for 2018 is 7.65 percent, which is comprised of 6.2 percent for Social Security taxes and 1.45 percent for medicare tax. Your employer will also pay that same amount so that the government receives a total of 15.3 percent. If you're self-employed, you must pay the entire 15.3 percent on your own.

This means that if you make $200,000 per year, you will be taxed 6.2 percent on $128,400 for Social Security tax and 1.45 percent on $200,000 for Medicare tax.

For employees in 2017, these mandatory deductions were the same as they are for 2018, but the earnings cap for Social Security in the 2017 tax year was $127,200.