I am glad someone pointed out that this needed to be reflected.

“Married filing jointly” to me intuitively implies that I am married and the person I’m filing with also has taxes to file. If i were the only one working, then I’d be “head of household”, right?

We’ve been filing married filing jointly for years and this is the first year when we owe back taxes.

So I’m still confused.

Thanks for helping me see this in a positive way. I think the feeling of loss at having to cut a fat check is what’s brining me down, aside from feeling stupid. But yay! An interest-free loan!

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

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.

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.

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

I’m embarrassed to say I don’t know how to fill a W4 correctly. It looks like I definitely dropped the ball this time. Where do I learn how to fill it out correctly?

Thanks! I think I’ll do tjat

In that case, how can I learn how to fill out the W4 correctly?

Good reason to move there