Adjust Your Tax Withholdings
Dolores Kong
08/06/04

Think you'll owe a lot in taxes this year because of
a stock sale or a bonus? Or maybe you don't want to
give Uncle Sam an interest-free loan by getting a
big refund come April 15? You can adjust your tax
withholding almost to the penny, so you won't be in
a penalty situation for under-withholding, or in a
position of letting Uncle Sam sit on your money
interest-free.

-The Internal Revenue Service has devised an online
calculator that allows you to figure any adjustments
you need to make the rest of the year, so that
you'll have just the right amount of federal income
taxes withheld, not too much, not too little.

You can find the calculator at
www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96196,00.html

The Massachusetts Department of Revenue doesn't have
an easy online calculator like the IRS does, but it
does post the state income tax withholding tables on
its website, so you can figure it out the
old-fashioned way using paper and pencil.

You can find those tables at
www.dor.state.ma.us/Forms/wage_rpt/pdfs/circ_m02.pdf

Once you've calculated what you need to change,
submit an updated W-4 and M-4 to your payroll
department. The W-4 can be found www.irs.gov, while
the M-4 can be found at www.massdor.com