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contessamiau OP t1_jeawkc8 wrote

Reply to comment by WingedBeagle in CPA says I owe federal taxes; payroll says they withheld everything correctly. I don’t know where to go from here. by contessamiau

Yes, I do. I am married. Should I have it set up differently?

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WingedBeagle t1_jeawzeh wrote

If you have the option for “Married, but withhold at a higher Single rate”, that is what you want to go with unless your wife is Stay at Home. Withholding as Married is not accurate if your spouse has a job too.

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RareStable0 t1_jeaycdi wrote

THIS IS THE INFORMATION I NEEDED. Goddamnit, I have ended up owing the IRS the last three years and could not figure out what on earth I was doing wrong. I'll fix that today. Thank you so much.

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contessamiau OP t1_jeaymcf wrote

Thanks! I’m going down this rabbit hole to learn about it now.

But I wanted to ask, is this information supposed to be common knowledge/intuitive to a native who was born here? Or is this something you are supposed to learn only if you run into trouble?

I am mad at myself for not knowing that just because I am married and filing together doesn’t mean I should choose this option on the W4. I don’t know why I didn’t know that and what should I do to stop making such mistakes.

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nothlit t1_jeazotk wrote

It's perfectly fine to choose "Married Filing Jointly" on the W-4, but if your spouse also works, then you have to follow the instructions in Step 2: "Complete this step if you (1) hold more than one job at a time, or (2) are married filing jointly and your spouse also works. The correct amount of withholding depends on income earned from all of these jobs."

The problem is a lot of employers use an online payroll system that offers a barebones web form to fill out in place of the actual W-4, and don't bother pointing you to the real form for instructional purposes.

Here's the full form with instructions: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf

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contessamiau OP t1_jeb1pcr wrote

You are right that I don’t remember seeing this whole thing when I filled the w4.

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richardelmore t1_jeb88h1 wrote

Whether I owe or get a refund seems to change from year to year based on things I can't really predict at the start of the year (bonus, capital gains, etc.).

I gave up on trying to get my withholding right and now I just transfer a hundred bucks from each paycheck into savings. If I have to pay taxes when the time comes the money is there, if not I can take the money I accumulated and use it for something else.

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badchad65 t1_jeazxdj wrote

Wasn’t common to me.

Wife and I are married. I still withhold as “single” and we both claim “0” dependents despite the fact we have a child. Still ended up owing like a grand.

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WingedBeagle t1_jeaz5ai wrote

I think everyone learns the same way that you did, unfortunately. I know my first HR portal only gave you three options to pick from and had no instructions explaining the difference.

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contessamiau OP t1_jeb1c4v wrote

I think now I’m starting to agree that the system is set up to favor some and against others… and I know there’s not much to do about it but I’m angry about it.

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