Auditors: 30M taxpayers will owe more due to low withholding

IRS form W-4 is the first step in determining how much money is withheld from a taxpayer's paycheck and applied toward the taxpayer's annual income tax liability. (AP Photo/Barbara Woike)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional auditors say about 30 million people — 21 percent of U.S. taxpayers — will have to come up with more money to pay their taxes next year because their employers withheld too little from their paychecks under government tables keyed to the new tax law.

New tax withholding tables for employers were put together by the government early this year. About 30 million workers received pay that was “under-withheld” — making their paychecks bigger this year but bringing a larger bill at tax time next spring, according to the Government Accountability Office’s report.

About 27 million taxpayers would have been affected even if the new law hadn’t been enacted. The changes, however, added 3 million to that number.