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State withholding and the stimulus

February 24, 2009

It's always something with taxes, isn't it?

While the IRS gets kudos for so quickly revamping the federal withholding tables to align with the recently enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, there are still some issues a bit up in the air.

One is in connection with state income tax withholding. This is something, as noted in my earlier post on the short-term hold put on Kansas refunds, that workers in taxpayers in 41 states and D.C. have to worry about.

In an interview with Tax Analysts, a spokesperson for the payroll service Paychex noted that additional IRS guidance would be helpful when it comes to the states that base their withholding on the federal process.

Those states, Michael Trabold told Tax Analysts, "are going to have to decide how or if they want to do anything to change that. For those impacted states, it adds an additional level of complexity."

Ah, yes, the old unintended consequences issue rears its ugly head again.

As I suggested earlier,check with your payroll manager and/or your state tax department about how this might affect your state tax withholding amount.

Off the state withholding hook: FYI,
the nine states that don't tax wage income are Texas, Florida, Alaska, Nevada, New
Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington and Wyoming.

And yes, I
disrupted the alphabetical listing to put the two states where I've
lived first.

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The More Tax Posts tab at the top of this page will take you to, well, more tax posts. You also can search below for a tax topic. 

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TAX-SAVVY WAYS 
TO WRAP UP 2026

It’s over! With October’s extended filing deadline behind us, it is now time to focus on year-end moves to reduce your 2026 tax bill. 

You’ll find ways to do just that on the Tax Tips page (see the More Tax Posts drop-down menu at the top of the blog), as well as the separate tax tip pages for each month, notably October through December. If you’re on the Tax Tips page, you’ll find a monthly list at the end of this column. If you’re on another blog page, you can head straight to the October tips; at the bottom of that tips page you’ll find links to all the other 11 months’ collections of tax advice.

Not to spoil what you’ll find in that tax advice, but it does cover such things as tax deductions for charitable donations, investment moves that could reduce tax due, and ways to max out your tax-favored retirement savings. 

Finally, as the year winds down, things get hectic. There are lots of other things to occupy our time, like the much more fun upcoming holidays. But don’t lose sight of taxes, since timing is key. To be of use, most tax moves must be made by the end of the tax year. That’s Thursday, Dec. 31, which also is the last business day of the year. 

So that you don’t miss that final tax year deadline, also keep an eye on the countdown clock below. It will keep you on top of just how much time is left to make important, tax-saving moves. (Note: I’m in the Central Time Zone, so adjust accordingly for where you live.)

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