<prompt> Human: Ive been working part time jobs since I was 16 and since then Ive always received money back on my taxes.Well 2012 will be the first time Ive had a full time postion for an entire tax year. Approximately 45,000 of income and according to TurboTax and HR, I OWE the Fed about 400.Sorry If I sound naive but this just my first time ever owning money and first time having a full time job so its a bit new and surprising to me.EDIT: Excellent and informative responses everyone. Thank you!Assistant: Getting money back just means you paid more taxes than you actually owed. Its not really a Payment from the government. This year you didnt pay enough in taxes so now you owe additional taxes. Thats all!Human: I was looking for a straight forward answer and thats what you gave me. Thank you very much. Now if I didnt pay in enough, is that my fault like when I filled out paperwork when I got hired or is it my payroll department?  <response>: Your payroll department isnt responsible, it is based on what you choose for deductions. They file your payments based on your W-4 allowances. Its also not really a fault youve made. Ive read a lot of people here who aim to either owe or get back around 100. It sounds like you need to make just a small adjustment in allowances to get to that point. Perhaps someone else here can help you with that specific formula, as my husband is self employed so we file our taxes a bit differently and pay quarterly taxes. 