I just got a $4,500 performance bonus and a $1,700 raise and it couldn’t have come at a better time

[rosabkug]

@ksweetness Yea

 

[khan96]

@rosabkug you deserve more than what any money could buy just from that achievement alone! thank u for your impact on the world.

 

[purplecitylife]

@rosabkug oof...as a previous teacher I feel the struggle. But good job and congratulations!

 

[angeles]

@rosabkug Wow, excellent work! You are appreciated.

 

[joyreich]

@jeanann5 My old company our performance bonus was given in February. No Christmas bonus.

This new one it’s given in March, again, no Christmas bonus.

It wouldn’t be surprising if Christmas bonus and performance bonus are the same thing, just timed up to be around the holidays.

 

[slaney4]

@rosabkug

 

[thompsonmark]

@rosabkug Are you in the US? Did you get paid the bonus yet? If not, quickly adjust your withholding if so you don’t get smacked with taxes. Hopefully you are on a long enough pay cycle so it can take effect. Do it for this one pay period and switch back. If you are withholding 1, change it to 8 this pay period and then go back to 1.

EDIT: Just learned that there are changes in 2020 that won’t make this work. I’m sorry, shit just went ham.

 

[feivel]

@thompsonmark You can't do that anymore with the new W-4, and it doesn't matter at all if your employer does a separate check run for bonuses and elects (like most employers) to use the flat withholding method.

 

[mjcbakker]

@feivel Our school has online W-4 and other stuff. We just log in and switch.

 

[feivel]

@mjcbakker Yes, but you no longer have exemptions like the old form. The calculation is a bit more complicated.

 

[mjcbakker]

@feivel Gonna check today, might ask few teachers if they have done it any time past month. Also it could be from school to school

 

[feivel]

@mjcbakker This is the one you should be using. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/faqs-on-the-2020-form-w-4

 

[mjcbakker]

@feivel I think my school uses same but ours is done on the distract website which they submit. And they pretty much handle everything else.

 

[thompsonmark]

@feivel Yeah I did mine in December. But also, holy shit I read the link...what are our withholdings based on now??

 

[feivel]

@thompsonmark Haha I'm a tax attorney and struggled with it until I ended up just reverse engineering it based on the amount of taxes I know I'll owe.

You take the standard deduction for your filing status, divide by the number of pay periods, and exclude that much from withholding. Then, you add back the amount earned at any other job, as that job will also assume you get the benefit of the standard deduction. The subtract from the withheld amount the portion of the CTC, ACTC, EIC which would be attributable to that pay period.

I've seen some real disasters where both parents claim the kid, or the phaseout isn't correctly figured for the CTC (less relevant in this sub). Whenever I do a tax return, I tell the client what their W-4 should look like to get no refund the next year, but this year that's a little more work than usual.

 

[thompsonmark]

@feivel Looking at this new sheet now and I do not find this easier or more ‘transparent’ as they claim, I think a lot of people are going to screw it up and end up owing at the end of next year and I cannot believe I didn’t know this was happening till just now, on a subreddit. My god.

 

[thompsonmark]

@feivel Since when? I just adjusted mine briefly and flipped back. My bonus was added to the normal payroll though.

 

[feivel]

@thompsonmark Your employer is not supposed to accept them since the new year started. Old W-4s can continue to be used that were already on file, but new ones should be the new form

 

[joy71]

@rosabkug I know it's super tempting to pay down that CC debt but if you don't have any savings I'd set aside $500. That way you can continue to pay down those cards and when shit happens can use that $500 in savings instead of charging it.

Congrats on the windfall. Always feels awesome when it happens.

 

[alari]

@rosabkug I feel ya