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MA withholding question

I recently changed my Federal withholding from married/0 exemptions/ $150 extra per paycheck to married/4 exemptions/$0 extra withhold.

And lo and behold, my MA withholding went up by almost $20.

Nothing else changed - my gross pay, my deductions, pre-tax stuff, all of these amounts are the same. The only thing different between the two checks is that my Federal withholding went down (as I desired) and MA went up.

Can anyone explain why?

My company's payroll department could only tell me that "lower Federal withholding causes higher state withholding", which makes no sense because there is nothing about MA income tax that is dependent in any way on how much you pay in Federal income tax (as far as I know).

Thanks!

Reply to
way333
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In the payperiod when your MA withholding changed (or the one before), did the total of your year-to-date SS and Medicare withholdings hit $2000?

MA allows a deduction for up to $2000 of the employee share of payroll taxes and the MA withholding rules instruct employers to withhold slightly lower until the payroll tax withholdings hit $2000.

-- Rich Carreiro snipped-for-privacy@rlcarr.com

Reply to
Rich Carreiro

I think you nailed it, that's exactly what happened.

Thanks!

Reply to
way333

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