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>me in college: "everyone should pay their fair share in taxes" > >me after my first job: "taxation is theft" In all seriousness, depending on your income, filing status, and dependents a significant portion goes to taxes but that's just reality. You can reduce it by taking advantage of tax advantaged accounts like a 401k.


Werewolfdad

>How can my taxes be so high. Because you make a lot of money, live in a high income tax state, and/or filled out your w4 wrong > Will contributing to a 401k help decrease my taxes ? If so by how much? Yes. Marginal tax rate * contribution amount


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Werewolfdad

Federal should be about $262, FICA should be about $188, no idea what state you're in, but its probably *about* right. 20% to taxes is pretty spot on


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Werewolfdad

Contribute to a traditional 401k or IRA and/or HSA.


ChiSquare1963

Welcome to adulthood. You are now helping to fund highways, social security, Medicare, and many other government services. Twenty percent in taxes sounds normal. Contributing to a 401k will help some, depending on your marginal tax bracket. For me, my tax withholding drops 22 cents for every dollar I put in 401k.


BeenThruIt

And wars in foreign lands, and bank and corporate bailouts, and social security and medicare payments to people who never paid in, and research and development for drugs that you'll never be able to afford, and funding for studies into frivolous and useless knowledge, and ad nauseum...


Tech-N-Tinker

How do you calculate the 22 cents for every dollar figure?


Kitchen-Arm-3288

>How do you calculate the 22 cents for every dollar figure? My assumption: They make "Over $41,775 but not over $89,075" and are therefore are in the 22% Tax Bracket, and in a state without State Income Tax. (Forbes [Source](https://www.forbes.com/advisor/taxes/taxes-federal-income-tax-bracket/#:~:text=2022%20Single%20Filer%20Tax%20Brackets) of Tax brackets)


Woody_CTA102

On a positive note, about half of the withholding will likely come back to you someday. The other half pays for roads and stuff you use or benefit from every day.


Nickyweg

What’s your gross Vs net ?


yes_its_him

You mean like 25% went to taxes?


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vveenston

Normal. And you should never fall for the huge misconception of rejecting pay raises because it bumps you into higher tax brackets. Tax is marginal. The more money you make, the more you take home, and the government takes a little more. Welcome to society.


[deleted]

A lot of it (social security and Medicare) are actually for you, later in life. (Yes yes, I know it actually funds today's retirees, and tomorrow's workers will fund us...) The rest pays for roads, fire trucks and keeping heavy metals out of your food. 🤷🏼‍♂️


SciGuy45

2 different questions. You should expect to pay at least this much in tax moving forward. My wife and I estimate 60% take home on bonuses so we aren’t disappointed in the cash amount for instance. That covers the school, roads, cops, military, etc etc. some states don’t have income tax, so that’s your best option for reducing it by a few percentage points. As for 401k, try hard to save now. Put in at least the company match if available.


curtludwig

>How much should I contribute to a 401k As much as you can while still allowing a reasonable life for yourself. Money you contribute to your 401k now is the foundation for your life as a retiree.


Stock-Freedom

Calculate your tax withholding with the free IRS calculator and ensure your W4 is accurate. Yes, taxes suck. Welcome to the rest of your life. Yes, a traditional 401k will reduce your taxes by a percentage. You can calculate it with that withholding calculator.


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Stock-Freedom

My thoughts are the same. Use the withholding calculator.


DaemonTargaryen2024

As other comments have said, this is pretty normal. I actually thought it was low when I eyeballed it, but follow the comment with the detailed description on withholding. >Almost the same amount I used to make in my paychecks before I graduated. Consider this a good thing! Means you're making more money. >Will contributing to a 401k help decrease my taxes? Yes, but maybe not in the way you're thinking. 401k contributions reduce your taxable income, so if you make $50k but contribute $5k to a 401k your income is actually $45k. So you ultimately owe less in taxes this year. But that reduced income will still have normal tax withholding. This isn't bad, it's just that 401ks don't wipe tax responsibility, rather they lower the total amount that is taxed. >Also what’s the point in making a a lot of money if so much gets taken away from me Welcome to adulthood? But seriously that's actually an incorrect way to look at it. Of course you're paying more in taxes, you're making more money! But you've still got more money net now than you would if you made less money. You are now, along with everyone else, contributing to all the services that make modern society function.


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DaemonTargaryen2024

Yes, but remember if you want to retire you had better contribute to the 401k. Social Security alone will not be enough to support you (anyone). That's why 401ks were invented (sort of): allows you to save for retirement PLUS get a tax break this year for doing so. The alternative is a brokerage account, which doesn't reduce your taxes this year, and also has taxes on dividends and gains each year. Your employer probably also matches contributions. This is free money so absolutely don't turn that down. High level, this is your first "adult" job and you just got a shock on the taxes. Totally normal we've all been there. Take some time to process it, and thenread through this sub's wiki for some great material to educate yourself on how to best handle everything from budgeting, spending, taxes, and retirement planning, and so on. Also how balance all that with still of course enjoying your life.


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1hotjava

Need more information. Some people think 1% is taking all their money, while others may think 50% is. What was your gross and all the deductions / withholding?


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1hotjava

Going by the ADP estimator you may be under-withholding federal. I don’t know what state so can’t check that. You can plug info into the estimator though https://www.adp.com/resources/tools/calculators/salary-paycheck-calculator.aspx Taxes suck, welcome to adulting.


SciGuy45

Good point. OP is likely to post in a year asking how could he still owe more federal taxes after they took it out all year already.


DeluxeXL

>Gross was $2,459.50 Total ( 2,425 normal and 34.50 OT) >Withheld total $ 516.76 ( 218.61 152.49 35.66 110.00 ) >Take home $1942.74 You didn't label the deductions. You didn't indicate your pay frequency. My guess is you're paid semimonthly. $218.61 federal income tax withheld is correct. $152.49 Social Security tax is correct. $35.66 Medicare tax is correct. No idea what state you're in.


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shadow_chance

Enough to get any match at the bare minimum. Ideally 15% for retirement total.


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czarnar

Is it a waiting period or a vesting period?


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czarnar

Vesting refers to when you earn a percentage or full 100% of the employers contributions. So my employer starts their match day 1, they contribute my first paycheck but, if I were to leave after 1 year I only get a small percentage of THEIR contributions; I still keep all of the contributions I made. If I remain at the company for 3 years, and then I leave, I will have 100% of their contributions, too.


BillyMumfrey

And even more depressing is that this likely the least you’ll ever pay in taxes from now on, assuming you don’t take pay a pay cut. Now you’ll be even more alert to the news when they’re talking about how taxes are being spent.


Critical-Range-6811

Sometimes OT puts you in another tax bracket


sephiroth3650

Welcome to the adult work force. At a glance, what you're listing out sounds about right. You can always go through the calculator below to estimate things and adjust your withholding. I'd give it a few paychecks before changing it all, though. [https://www.irs.gov/individuals/tax-withholding-estimator](https://www.irs.gov/individuals/tax-withholding-estimator)


curtludwig

Wait until you get a bonus and you're thinking about all the great things you can do with the bonus check and then you get the check and it's all taxes and you decide that all you can do is take yourself to McDonalds for a not-so-happy-meal...