Maria Thompson, CPA
Lead Author Payroll & Withholding CPA — CA & TX
About Maria
Maria Thompson is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) licensed in both California and Texas, with more than 12 years of professional experience in U.S. tax compliance and payroll. She began her career in the audit and tax practice at PwC (one of the Big Four accounting firms), where she focused on payroll-tax engagements for mid-market employers, multistate withholding reviews, and FICA compliance audits.
After her time in public accounting, Maria moved into advisory work for small businesses, freelancers, and dual-income households. She has helped hundreds of W-2 employees diagnose under-withholding and over- withholding situations, recalibrate W-4 elections after major life events (marriage, new dependents, side income), and avoid common tax-time surprises driven by stale withholding choices.
As Lead Author at CalcYet, Maria is responsible for content related to federal paycheck mechanics, W-4 completion, withholding adjustments, and FICA. She works closely with senior reviewer Robert Johnson, CPA, JD-Tax, to make sure every published guide reflects current IRS guidance and is internally consistent with the assumptions used by the calculators on the site.
Areas of Expertise
- Federal income tax withholding and IRS Publication 15-T mechanics
- W-4 form completion, including multiple-jobs and dependents worksheets
- FICA payroll taxes (Social Security and Medicare) and the wage base limit
- Multistate payroll for remote and hybrid workers
- Tax planning for dual-income and dual-state households
- Diagnosing under-withholding and avoiding underpayment penalties
Education
- BS, Accounting — California State University, Fullerton
- MS, Taxation — University of Southern California (USC)
Licenses and Professional Memberships
- Certified Public Accountant (CPA) — California Board of Accountancy
- Certified Public Accountant (CPA) — Texas State Board of Public Accountancy
- Member, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)
- Member, California Society of CPAs (CalCPA)
Articles by Maria Thompson, CPA
Connect
Maria Thompson, CPA on LinkedIn
Contact and Corrections
To suggest a correction or ask Maria a question about a specific article, please use the CalcYet contact form. Maria personally reviews all correction requests for the payroll and withholding content she authors and updates relevant pages where official IRS guidance has changed.
Read more about CalcYet’s editorial standards and review process on the editorial team page.
Last updated: May 8, 2026