Are you counting on a tax refund next year?

Double-check your withholdings now

WASHINGTON, D.C. » Every tax season, a lot of people feel like they’ve hit the lottery — except it’s their own money they are collecting.

Millions of workers calculate their withholdings so that they get money back at tax time. They know their employer is sending too much to Uncle Sam, and they like it that way. They don’t trust themselves to save. They count on the tax refund for any number of things, such as paying off debt or taking a vacation.

But Congress passed major tax legislation at the end of last year that could affect your refund if you are one of these folks, according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the Department of the Treasury had to establish new federal tax-withholding tables. The IRS publishes the withholding tables and employers use them to determine how much tax to withhold from an employee’s paycheck.

Each year, employers withhold more than $1 trillion in income tax from employees’ pay, including wages, bonuses and commissions, according to the GAO.

Sen. Ron Wyden, DOre., and Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., asked the GAO to review the revised federal tax withholding tables for 2018.

The overwhelming majority of people — 73 percent — will still be in a situation where too much is withheld, accord-

The overwhelming majority of people — 73 percent — will still be in a situation where too much is withheld, according to the GAO. Meanwhile, 21 percent of taxpayers might not be withholding enough from their paychecks to cover their tax bill.