What are payroll taxes?

When you are an employee of a company, you are expected to pay taxes of some sort to the federal and state governments. The taxes levied upon your overall wages in your paychecks are called payroll taxes. This is when your employer withholds some wages from your pay in order to prepare you for paying your taxes before the April 15th deadline. For example, if you happen to make a wage f $15/per hour, work 40 hours a week, and get paid every two weeks, you will realize that your paycheck will not be $1,200. It will likely be around $1,100, but could be a little more or less. This is because your employer has automatically withheld some pay to go towards your taxes, otherwise known as payroll taxes.