Tax confusion costing some to owe hundreds back to the state, what you need to know

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - If you have already filed your taxes, your returns may shock you. New changes to state documents are costing some Idaho taxpayers hundreds, even thousands in some cases.

"So far this year, I have printed more state payment coupons than I have in the past two years of doing tax returns. So it's a whole lot and affected a lot of people," tax preparer at Old Town Accounting & Tax Services, David Carpenter said.

For many, the state withheld much less from each paycheck than usual. As a result, some are left to pay hundreds of dollars back to the state.

"It's not their fault, it's not the employer's fault. It's the state tax commission's fault. The published payroll tables are just off," Carpenter said.

He highlighted the plight of a married couple who filed jointly, one for federal and one for the state. If processed correctly, it should have come out even. However, it did not.

"Their state came up $2,200 short and yet they claimed married and one each. That's just flat wrong," Carpenter said.

Recent tax laws in 2019 changed the state's payroll tables. The state had to create its own W-4 form, requiring a to change the adjusted state withholding. Carpenter says that is the core of the problem. Normally, the state is nearly half of what the federal comes out to. However, he says it hasn’t been that way.

"So if you have $100 held federally, you should have $50 withheld state. Well, it hasn't been that way. They've been withholding 30. It's been a lot less, almost half."

Now, he says the state tax commission is setting itself up for thousands of people looking for extensions, defaults, debt and in need of a payment program.

"90% of people want enough withheld to have a refund so they don't have to pay at the end of the year. Well, the new W-4’s and doesn't really let you figure that out." Additionally, he’s urging caution and advising his clients to withhold more in state taxes for this year, all in hopes to prevent owing the state next year.