Did you owe taxes this year? If so, it may be time for a paycheck check up.

It's a good idea to check your federal tax income tax withholding throughout the year by using the Tax Withholding Estimator on IRS.gov. This online tool helps to avoid having too much or too little tax withheld from your wages. It also helps self-employed people, who have wage income, estimate tax payments that they should make to avoid unexpected results at tax time. Having too little withheld can result in a tax bill or even a penalty at tax time. Having too much withheld results in a refund and less money in your pocket during the year. The estimator can help you get to a balance of close to zero or a desired refund amount.

Use the results from the Tax Withholding Estimator to determine if you should:

• Complete a new Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate and submit it to your employer.

• Make an additional or estimated tax payment to the IRS.

Before using the Estimator, it can be helpful for to gather applicable income documents including:

• Pay stubs

• Forms W-2 from employers to estimate their annual income

• Forms 1099 from banks, issuing agencies and other payers including unemployment compensation, dividends, distributions from a pension, annuity or retirement plan

• Form 1099-K, 1099-MISC, W-2 or other income statement for workers in the gig economy

• Form 1099-INT for interest received

• Other income documents and records of virtual currency transactions

These documents are not needed to use the estimator but having them handy will help you estimate income and answer other questions asked during the process. The Tax Withholding Estimator results will only be as accurate as the information entered. People with more complex tax situations may need to contact their accountant for assistance.

Subscribe to IRS Tax Tips to get easy-to-read tips about taxes via e-mail from the IRS throughout the year or contact us if you have any questions.