Trucker Tax question
 

well been driving for PAM Transport for exactly 6 months now. ive been noticing that my taxes taken out are pretty steep. for example this week i grossed 1021.00. pam or whoever deducted 296.00 from that check for taxes. now my wife who is a school teacher grossed 995.00 and only 74.00 came out in taxes. so my question is do us drivers get taxed differently for some odd reason? currently i have 4 dependents on my W-4. the reason this concerns me is that thats alot of money to be paying out every week, hell i could pay my mortgage 2 times a month with what im paying in taxes. any help would be appreciated.

CAPONE

seems like the wife may be being taxed too little....

all depends how many dependents you claimed on your tax forms......the more dependents (including yourself) the less they withhold.

Re: Trucker Tax question
 

the amounts you stated seem to match up with someone that claims 0 on there w-4 at the time of hire. I would be concerned with how low your wifes is or did she claim more dependents? you can adjust your w-4 just handle it through your payroll dept. make sure that you hire someone to do your taxes that knows what drivers can deduct. hint HR block prolly cant help you.

I would redo the wife's and your W4 and see what happens also remember with you and your wife working it might be best to clam less dependents and have more tax taken out if you are on the line for tax brackets.

Tax Prep
 

"HR block prolly can't help you." Yes they can and do. They're who've been doing my taxes as a company driver from the get-go. They knew more about potential deductions than I did, my company informed us about, or had heard about.
Every year, shortly after the middle of January, I get my W-2 and a sheet of paper reminding me about potential deductions I should be able to take. BOL

Depending on the state your wife is working for...she may not be paying "Social Security" as she is covered by an entirely different retirement system that is funded at a different rate or even by different methods.

I would venture to say that the tax amounts taken out of your check are somewhat in line with whats right. But then it depends on how many deductions are taken out of your check as opposed to your actual number of dependents and the amounts can seem strange because weekly schedules do not necessarily reflect the same in biweekly schedules and so on. I would get with your payroll people and see whats actually being done. Do keep in mind that only one of you can deduct the kids....not both at the same time.

Dependent Deductions
 

"only one of you can deduct the kids....not both at the same time." When did that change for married people? His employer doesn't know his wife's working. Dependent deductions at tax filing time comes off the top of gross family income. BOL

H@R Block does not work as hard as a private accountant to retain the most of your earnings and pay appropriate tax. Sure, they know more than the average guy, they have to go through some seminars first :)

Also remember, the more money you make, the more you'll be taxed.