Hello fellow NYG fans:
A decidedly non-football thread, if I may.
Now that our daughter is no longer a toddler, my wife is getting back into the workforce with a part-time (30hrs/wk) job. We are married/filing jointly, and she will be making significantly less than me. If I am to understand this new and ambiguous W-4 she has been presented with, it appears she is to fill out Step 1, leave Steps 2/3/4 blank as I am already claiming defendants on my W-4, and then sign Step 5 in order to receive her standard deduction. Can anyone confirm?
Thanks...
If you go by IRS Publication 15-T a lower wage spouse that makes $1000 bi-weekly ($26,000 per year) would only have $5 in Federal tax withheld per paycheck if all you do is check the filing status box and sign it.
The "defendants" was an inadvertent typo (I hope).
BillT, was the adjustment to the W4 made this year to prevent underpayment from married taxpayers? My wife and I got burned pretty bad with the new tax reform because we had filled out the old version of the W4 and even with 0 exemptions we still owed way more than expected. Thanks!
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Just have her check the Married Filing Jointly box. That's all she needs to do. If you want to withhold a bit more to adjust for the "marriage penalty" then she could check Single.
BillT, was the adjustment to the W4 made this year to prevent underpayment from married taxpayers? My wife and I got burned pretty bad with the new tax reform because we had filled out the old version of the W4 and even with 0 exemptions we still owed way more than expected. Thanks!
The problem still is that they calculate the tax on that one person's income separately but when both incomes are added together they jump into a high tax bracket(maybe two brackets) with the combined income.
Quote:
Just have her check the Married Filing Jointly box. That's all she needs to do. If you want to withhold a bit more to adjust for the "marriage penalty" then she could check Single.
BillT, was the adjustment to the W4 made this year to prevent underpayment from married taxpayers? My wife and I got burned pretty bad with the new tax reform because we had filled out the old version of the W4 and even with 0 exemptions we still owed way more than expected. Thanks!
"section 125" below is right. That's the "marriage penalty" because you are each withheld based on just your salary but taxed on your combined salaries. You have to do some calculation and probably add some extra withholding to one of your paychecks.
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In comment 14816189 BillT said:
Quote:
Just have her check the Married Filing Jointly box. That's all she needs to do. If you want to withhold a bit more to adjust for the "marriage penalty" then she could check Single.
BillT, was the adjustment to the W4 made this year to prevent underpayment from married taxpayers? My wife and I got burned pretty bad with the new tax reform because we had filled out the old version of the W4 and even with 0 exemptions we still owed way more than expected. Thanks!
"section 125" below is right. That's the "marriage penalty" because you are each withheld based on just your salary but taxed on your combined salaries. You have to do some calculation and probably add some extra withholding to one of your paychecks.
Thanks BillT and section125