Withholding

You might have a salary of $50K a year, but you might ask why only $41,237 shows up on your paycheck. The culprit/thief? Taxes. And they are automatically withheld in most cases by the employer for a variety of reasons, the most common of which stems from the belief of the government that most workers don't have the discipline to save enough money to pay their taxes at the end of the year. In order to help them not be morons and go to debtor's prison, the government requires there be withholding of cash in the paycheck by the corporation to pay those taxes.