--- title: Owed Taxes This Year? Do This Before Your Next Paycheck description: Expected a tax refund but got an IRS bill instead? This often happens when a person doesn't update their withholding after a life change. authors: - name: Julia Glum role: Managing Editor url: https://money.com/author/julia-glum/ bio: A graduate of the University of Florida, Julia has more than eight years of experience in personal finance journalism. In addition to overseeing news and newsletters, she leads Money’s tax coverage, which includes extensive reporting on tax credits, policy changes and the IRS. education: University of Florida at_money_since: 2018 articles: 453 covers: - Taxes - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Technology also_seen_in: - Newsweek - International Business Times - CBS News - Good Morning America - WUSA9 - Pix 11 - The New York Times - Mashable - The Washington Post - CNBC - Politico social: - https://x.com/superjulia - https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-glum editors: - name: Katherine Peach role: Associate Editor url: https://money.com/author/katherine-peach/ bio: Katherine Peach is an associate editor with a focus on news and email at Money. She didn’t always intend to write about money. She’s a classically trained pianist who dreamed of becoming an archaeologist. However, in 2007 Katherine began working in financial publishing as an editor for Agora Inc. (Apparently, unearthing ideas about improving your personal finances isn’t such a bad career alternative!) Katherine’s writing and editing work has been featured in Investing Daily, Clever, Investor Junkie, The Palm Beach Letter, Truth & Plenty, Independence Monthly, NICHE, AmericanStyle, AntiqueWeek, Millennial Money, Money Done Right, TheStreet, Sure Dividend and many others. Katherine holds a Bachelor of Arts in Ancient Studies with concentrations in Archaeology and Ancient Languages and a minor in Literature from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. education: University of Maryland, Baltimore County at_money_since: 2025 articles: 14 covers: - Taxes - Banking - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Federal Reserve Rate Cuts - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping published: '2026-04-13T16:28:24.000Z' modified: '2026-04-13T16:28:24.000Z' section: Taxes tags: - News - Taxes word_count: 973 canonical: https://money.com/tax-bill-surprise-fix/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Photo-illustration of a woman slipping on money being pulled out from under her](https://img.money.com/2026/04/News-Unexpectedly-Owed-Money-Taxes.jpg) *This is an excerpt from Dollar Scholar, the Money newsletter where managing editor Julia Glum teaches you the modern money lessons you NEED to know. Don't miss the next issue! Sign up at **[money.com/subscribe](https://money.com/subscribe/dollar-scholar/)** and join our community of 160,000+ Scholars.* * * * I was actually looking forward to doing my taxes this year. Money has been publishing stories for weeks about how people are receiving the [biggest refunds in U.S. history](https://money.com/bigger-tax-refunds-in-2026-withholding) thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, so I figured I had some money coming my way. I started dreaming about what I'd spend it on: concert tickets, new sneakers, maybe a vacation. It was a crushing blow, then, when I filed the other day and learned that instead of getting money, I owed the IRS. Over $1,000. This is unusual for me; I've always gotten at least a small refund. I don't know why I owed, much less in a year when the predominant storyline is about how much taxpayers are benefiting from the new law. But I am NOT going to let it happen again. ## The right Tax Relief firm makes all the difference, especially if you owe over $10,000 in taxes. ### Get the tailored experience that you expect from the tax litigation professionals in your area. Click on your state to get started! [Get Started](https://money.com/pr/kc0833a52be9?ap_referrer=%2Ftax-bill-surprise-fix%2F) ## I unexpectedly owed money on my 2025 taxes. Why does this happen, and how can I fix it for next year? Mark Steber, chief tax officer at Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, tells me my situation is pretty common. He says the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is a "feast and famine bill," meaning it tends to have extreme results: The legislation either puts a ton of money into my pocket or none. The law includes several provisions aimed at bringing down costs for certain groups of people, like the [deductions for tips](https://money.com/no-tax-on-tips-eligibility-start-date/) and overtime and the "senior bonus." Those deductions have driven up the average tax refund to $3,571. But the boost wasn't universal. "If you got a $25,000 tip deduction, your refund \[is\] way up," Steber says. "A lot of people don't have tips, and their refunds are not up." My issue was likely with my withholding. See, in the U.S., federal income taxes are pay-as-you-go. Workers like me have a certain amount of tax taken out — or withheld — from each paycheck; we owe the IRS money when that sum falls short of our liability (minus any credits). Jason Stanfield, an associate professor at Ball State University and a member of the American Accounting Association, says workers get to determine their withholding when they file a Form W-4 with their employer. The W-4 asks questions about family size, multiple jobs and other income; employers use this information to figure out how much to withhold. Issues commonly arise when a person experiences a life change — like getting married, having a baby, buying a house or closing a retirement account — and neglects to update their withholding accordingly. (Oops.) Steber says side hustles can be tricky, too. When a person is self-employed, they're supposed to pay both halves of certain payroll taxes (totaling 12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare). Self-employed taxpayers are generally on the hook for quarterly estimated payments. If a person doesn't pay the IRS enough either via withholding or estimated payments, they end up owing a bunch of money — and possibly an underpayment penalty — come tax time. So how can I fix this? To avoid nasty surprises and penalties in the future, Stanfield says it's prudent to adjust my withholding ASAP. I can file a new W-4 with my employer's HR department. The IRS has a [withholding calculator on its website](https://www.irs.gov/individuals/tax-withholding-estimator) where I can plug in information about my income sources and family size, and "it tells you exactly what to put on that W-4," he says. Stanfield says I can adjust my additional withholding on line 4(c) by doing some math. The easiest way is to reference the amount I owed on this year's taxes. If I under-withheld by $1,200, for example, I need my employer to keep back an extra $100 a month. That's $50 a paycheck. So I put $50 — or maybe even a bit more, if I'm worried — on line 4(c). I can even adjust my work withholding to account for my side hustles. "Your pay will go down, but you won't have the shock and awe at the end of the year with a balance due," Steber says. Thankfully, I don't have to wait until next April to find out whether I did this right. I can adjust my withholding at any point. Steber recommends doing a midyear tax checkup. In July, I should sit down with my latest pay stub, look at my year-to-date earnings and multiply those wages by two to get a rough estimate of how much money I'll probably make by Dec. 31. Using my 2025 [tax rate](https://money.com/irs-tax-brackets-standard-deduction-2026/) — my taxes divided by my income — I can determine how much I'll likely owe. Then I can look at the amount withheld so far in 2026, multiply that by two and compare it to the previous figure. If there's a gap, I can adjust my withholding well before taxes come due. ### Rated A+ by the BBB ![Get Started](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/14979/medium_d9420f2c-6d0b-4726-b903-60fb37740830.png) Our Partner [Get Started](https://money.com/go/3c5cd85bf676?bidid=4059276184&pmeta=p129-c739-u28541&ptid=665357278&ptoken=09bcd1217a761a86be85e6dea0c18ef6) ### Over 15 years of Experience ![Get Started](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/36123/medium_d8e31451-10fb-4690-a053-85981545c371.webp) Our Partner [Get Started](https://money.com/go/572b2bc8c019?bidid=4059276190&pmeta=p129-c739-u28541&ptid=665357278&ptoken=48c71462ff6e6352cccd6babddcd6384) ### 12+ years of tax resolution experience ![Get Started](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/19221/medium_21c467f5-9614-45a6-a827-5c1698cf1de6.png) Our Partner [Get Started](https://money.com/go/5ad292788ddb?bidid=4059276181&pmeta=p129-c739-u28541&ptid=665357278&ptoken=9de234d3f88c5453862ab6aa2cfdc9d9) ### 21+ years in service ![Get Started](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/37015/medium_cb5bc133-3b62-412b-9420-e17d1c5aaa63.webp) Our Partner [Get Started](https://money.com/go/4be2e5334908?bidid=4059276188&pmeta=p129-c739-u28541&ptid=665357278&ptoken=8e3d61cefe55cdb88ec51d3ac835200f) ### 24/7 Client Portal Access ![Get Started](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/38669/medium_134094f5-0d61-4290-98dd-6ea7bc5551c2.webp) Our Partner [Get Started](https://money.com/go/4978ad1c558f?bidid=4059276186&pmeta=p129-c739-u28541&ptid=665357278&ptoken=1bc84481a9295df734e996ce3e4672dc) ## The bottom line Taxpayers owe the IRS when they don't withhold enough in taxes from paychecks or don't pay estimated taxes throughout the year. To remedy this, I just have to do some math and file a new W-4 with my company. It's a delicate balance between withholding too much (and getting a big refund) or withholding too little (and having to pay, like I did this year). Luckily, it's one we all have control over. "It's not the government, it's not luck, it's not TikTok videos," Steber adds. "You have the authority to change this — both up and down." ![](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/14979/medium_d9420f2c-6d0b-4726-b903-60fb37740830.png) Owe over $10,000 in taxes? Get Tax Relief with Anthem now! [Get Started](https://money.com/pr/l978cd9f37e2?ap_referrer=%2Ftax-bill-surprise-fix%2F) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/tax-bill-surprise-fix/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Taxes", "item": "https://money.com/taxes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Tax Refund", "item": "https://money.com/tax-refund/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Owed Taxes This Year? Do This Before Your Next Paycheck" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/tax-bill-surprise-fix/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/tax-bill-surprise-fix/", "name": "Owed Taxes This Year? 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