The company I work for told me last month I was approved for a 15% raise; that seemed like a lot but I have been really busting my ass this year to prove my worth (in preparation for asking for said raise) and felt pretty accomplished when I got the good news. By my calculations it would but my gross pay right around $54k, which for the field I work in is not too bad for a non-management position. My calculations told me I’d see an increase in my after-tax pay of about $400, which I was planning on throwing at my debt and car payment to expedite clearing them out.
To my surprise, I checked my paystub this morning and my net pay only increased by $150. My gross pay seems to check out re: the increase I was told I was getting, but it seems like most of it has been swallowed up by taxes (over $1.1k this month alone). At the end of the day, my annual take home pay is only increasing ~$2k, off a raise that boosted my annual gross over $7k. So here’s my question: am I getting over-deducted in my taxes, or is this what the news means when they talk about the death of the middle class?
ADDENDUM 1: I am paid monthly.
ADDENDUM 2: Per recommendations from the comments, I went back and pulled my last pre-raise paystub to compare withholdings. My previous gross pay was $3,900 and my federal withholdings were $377/month; adding in Social Security and Medicare + my $60 in health care deductions, my total deductions pre-raise were ~$730. Post-raise: My gross pay is $4,552, Medicare and Social Security withholdings only raised a little bit, but my Federal tax jumped up to $763/month, over double what it was last month and is the bulk of why my total deductions were over $1.1k. I'm gonna check with HR and see if that's where it's supposed to be.
ADDENDUM 3: Talked with HR, they confirmed there was a mistake with the paystub service/program they use in the federal withholding calculations this month; they've fixed the glitch and are crediting me back the difference. So, raise found! Thanks for everyone's thoughtful replies.
Submitted December 14, 2018 at 09:57AM by Vince_Clortho042 https://ift.tt/2SODydc
