Married Filing Jointly

[msnobody]

Just learned that federal withholding can be changed by logging into wherever you change your federal withholding election and changed to “Multiple Jobs” (if you have more than one job/employer) or “Spouse Works” to lower your income tax. You’d think that by filing married jointly, with a his and hers W-2, it’d be a clue for the IRS that both spouses work. Duh! But, NOOO!!! Just happened to learn this because the tax preparer just happened to walk out of his office and we asked why our taxes were so high.

I agree with what our daughter said below:

It’s bizarre that the IRS knows how much we owe, makes us guess and then if you mess up you owe more money or go to prison. Should be more of a “here’s what you owe, up to you to refute/prove if you think you owe less” than starting from scratch.

At least death is good for something

[huckelberry]

Hi Msnobody,

I certainly do not know all details but to my understanding you may change the withholding amount but that does not change the amount of tax you are obligated to pay. It could change the size of a refund of money you have already paid or result in being required to pay the difference not yet covered by withholding.

[msnobody]

What I’m talking about is what is listed on page 2 under specific instructions, step 2, option C.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf

Specific Instructions
Step 1(c). Check your anticipated filing status. This will
determine the standard deduction and tax rates used to
compute your withholding.
Step 2. Use this step if you (1) have more than one job at the
same time, or (2) are married filing jointly and you and your
spouse both work.
Option (a) most accurately calculates the additional tax
you need to have withheld, while option (b) does so with a
little less accuracy.
Instead, if you (and your spouse) have a total of only two
jobs, you may check the box in option (c). The box must also
be checked on the Form W-4 for the other job. If the box is
checked, the standard deduction and tax brackets will be
cut in half for each job to calculate withholding. This option
is accurate for jobs with similar pay; otherwise, more tax
than necessary may be withheld, and this extra amount will
be larger the greater the difference in pay is between the two
jobs.

All I know, is the accountant said this would have saved us $2-3K in taxes.

[Bret Ripley]

Huckelberry is correct. W-4 selections have no effect on taxes owed, but can have dramatic effects on withholding and therefore amounts refundable/due at yearend. Amounts owed with federal income tax filings generally reflect insufficient withholdings, which are determined in part by form W-4, and a refund means too much was withheld (i.e. you loaned money to the government interest-free).