I can basically put this on a t shirt for family gatherings . <| sep |> I just picked up Ertz because hes my only real option on the waiver wire . So I certainly hope it is ! <| sep |> Normally one could adjust one ' s W 4 settings to cause the appropriate amount of withholding to happen so that much of your tax liability is paid in during the year , and at tax time you ' d just need to pay whatever remaining amount there is . Since we are so close to the end of the year , it might be that you do not need to worry about this . I say this because the underpayment penalty for not paying in via withholding or estimated tax payments during the year has a few escape hatches . One escape hatch is If you had zero tax liability last year , then you won ' t have an underpayment penalty this year , even if you wait until April to pay all your tax . Another escape hatch is If your total tax minus withholding is less than $ 1000 , you don ' t have an underpayment penalty . You ' re right that if your only income was from W 2 earnings that are under $ 6300 , you wouldn ' t have federal income tax . Also , if you have taxable income that exceeds that amount , it ' s only the amount above $ 6300 that gets taxed . First $ 9275 above $ 6300 gets taxed at 10 %. Next chunk gets taxed at 15 %. So if your grant from college is less than $ 10000 , then the amount of tax you owe could easily be under $ 1000 . And if it ' s more than that , you might be safe from underpayment penalty if you had no tax last year . For this reason , I think you are safe to simply file in April , indicating both your W 2 wages as well as your taxable grant income , calculate your tax , and pay it then . Taxable grant amount gets added to the line on your tax form where you report your wages . If this amount isn ' t on a W 2 you receive , then you write SCH next to that line on the left January rolls around , decide if it makes sense to fill in a new W 4 if you expect you will owe tax in 2017 .