The Payroll program uses the government's tax tables to calculate how much tax should be withheld. This calculation depends on the selections made in the employee's Wages/Master Paycheck window.

Every time you pay an employee, the program performs these calculations and divides the annual tax among the employee's pay periods. EIC payments are divided and paid to the employee in each paycheck.

On the Payroll tab, click Tax Setup > Federal Tax. In the navigation pane, click Single Withholding Table, Married Withholding Table, or EIC Payments Tables. All of the tables are organized in the same way. Each range of annual income has a fixed amount of tax that is applied to employees who fall in that income range, as well as a percentage applied to the excess.

For example, you have an income range of $28,700 to $62,200 with a fixed amount of tax equal to $3907.50 plus 27% of excess over $28,700. An employee who makes $30,000 falls into that range, so they have a fixed amount of $3907.50 + 27% of $1,300 (the excess), which equals $351. Therefore, the employee's total annual tax is $3907.50 + $351 = $4,258.50.