<prompt> Human: TL;DR at bottom.I recently moved from Europe to NYC and started a new job in late May. In my new position, I am now earning 115,000 while my wife earns 76,000 gross each year. When I started my employer gave me a number of forms to fill out including state and federal tax forms. I dont have much experience with the U.S tax system but followed the instructions and submitted the forms. I indicated we were married, we would file taxes jointly and didnt have any children. I didnt choose any allowances as none seemed to apply, and I calculated a tax withholding of 560. After getting a small paycheck at the end of May, I recieved my first full bi-weekly payment on June 15th and Im kind of shocked at home much of my paycheck is taxed... For the first two weeks I recieved 4,791 and payed 2055.74 in taxes leaving me with 2,706.51 take home pay. Over 4037; in taxes before I take out 401k and any other savings. I now wonder if I messed up the tax forms or if its just the cost of working in NYC. The tax calculators I used seemed to indicate that my take home pay would be closer to 3,400. As a non-american, is this a normal rate of tax in NY for our income or am I overpaying somewhere? I also dont fully understand the tax witholding charge and how that works, is it also federal income tax?Any help for a U.S tax newbie would be greatly appreciated. FWIW: Fed Tax Witholding: 560. NY Tax Witholding 66.Fed Income Tax:1,163.46:-:-:-Social Security Tax: 295.26Medicare Tax: 69.05 NY State Income Tax: 341.06NY CIT Income Tax:179.57 NY SUI Tax:1.30 NY Paid Family Leave: 6.04TL;DR: Moved from Europe to NYC, paying over 4037; of income in taxes before savings and not sure if Im paying the correct amount or overpaying.  <response>: I love this question because a European is experiencing high American taxes. chucklesI believe you are experiencing NY city tax, NY state tax and Federal tax. Plus everything in NYC is expensive. There may be some additional withholding you can do on your form W4. You can use the IRS calculator to help you figure this out. You may also want to talk to HR or an accountant as well.Welcome to America! Good luck. 