What could account for me owing exactly $6000 in taxes?

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2024-02-27 16:30:05

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My wife and I make a combined income of around $140,000. We work for the same employer. On her W4, we didn't adjust taxes for children, but on my W4, declared our 2 children, per the IRS's W4 instructions.

I find it strange that the tax calculator is calculating that I owe precisely $6000. That is such a round number suggests to me some error somewhere.

Was there a law that changed that would account for this difference between my employer's paycheck calculation and my software? For instance, maybe before I could get $3000/per child and that is no longer the case?

A quick Google search finds an IRS report that there were over 162 million returns filed in 2023. Which means approximately 162,000 returns have a multiple of $1,000 refund or tax bill. That's a lot of people, and you are apparently one of them.