Dear Mrs. Duck, That $218 is probably just what she actually has to send in now, in a check, because of how her annual figures come out, comparing what she's already paid in to what she made. The rest has been being deducted from her paycheck every month over the year by her employer -- at least I presume, that's what happens to most of us. The tax rate is pretty comparable to yours, a lot of us are in the bracket of 28 or 29%, I think it is. But I'm a financial moron, someone else will know more exactly.