You're absolutely on the right track with your thinking! As someone who works in tax preparation, I see this situation all the time with dual-income households. You are NOT required to check the Multiple Jobs box - it's purely optional and designed to help people who want more precise withholding throughout the year. What you're planning (leaving both W-4s with no box checked and no dependents) is a completely legitimate and common approach. Each employer will withhold taxes as if that's your only income source, which typically results in overwithholding when you file jointly. This means you'll likely get a nice refund each spring. The only thing I'd suggest is running a quick calculation once you know your wife's nursing salary to make sure you're not overwithholding by an extreme amount. While there's no penalty for overwithholding, you don't want to be giving the government a $10,000+ interest-free loan if you could be using that money for other financial goals throughout the year. But for peace of mind and guaranteed refunds? Your plan is solid and perfectly within the rules. Good luck with the nursing career - we need more healthcare workers!

As a tax professional, I'd say anything over $6,000-7,000 in refunds might be worth reconsidering, but honestly it depends on your financial discipline and goals. Some of my clients deliberately overwithhold by $8,000+ because they know they'd spend the extra money throughout the year instead of saving it. A good middle-ground approach is to start conservative (like you're planning) for the first year, then use that actual refund amount as a baseline. If you get back $4,000, you might be perfectly happy with that forced savings. If you get back $10,000, you might want to adjust one of your W-4s the following year to claim 1 allowance or use the estimator tool to fine-tune it. The beautiful thing about your situation is you have flexibility. Since you're both going to be W-2 employees with steady income, predicting your tax situation will be relatively straightforward compared to people with variable income or complex deduction situations. One last tip: when you do start the nursing job, keep your first few paystubs and maybe run them through the IRS withholding calculator around October. That'll give you a good preview of where you'll land tax-wise and whether any mid-year adjustments make sense.

Don't forget about FBAR requirements if you have signature authority over foreign accounts! Even though the gift itself might not be taxable, if you and your foreign spouse have joint accounts abroad with more than $10,000 total, you need to file an FBAR. I got hit with a penalty for missing this even though the money itself wasn't taxable.

This is a great question that comes up frequently with international couples. Based on the excellent answers already provided, I'd add one more consideration: timing and documentation strategy. Since your wife is sending money as a gift and you're well under the $175,000 annual exclusion for 2024, you're in good shape tax-wise. However, I'd recommend documenting the gift intent clearly before the transfer happens. Have your wife write a simple gift letter stating the amount, date, that it's a gift with no expectation of repayment, and her relationship to you. Keep copies of both the gift letter and the wire transfer documentation. Also, consider the timing if you're planning multiple transfers. The annual exclusion resets each calendar year, so if you need more than $175,000 total, you could potentially structure it across tax years to stay under the threshold each year. One last tip: notify your US bank ahead of time about the incoming international wire transfer. Large international transfers can sometimes trigger holds or additional scrutiny from the bank's compliance department, and giving them a heads up can help avoid delays.

One thing nobody's mentioned - you might be able to avoid this issue entirely in the future by using Venmo Business Profile instead of a personal account. It charges a small fee but it's specifically designed for business transactions and gives you better record-keeping options.

Just want to add my perspective as someone who went through this exact situation! I'm a freelance web designer and made the same mistake using personal Venmo for client payments in my first year. I was panicking about whether I could deduct my subcontractor expenses. The good news is that you're totally fine to claim these as business expenses. The IRS cares about the substance of the transaction, not the payment method. Keep your Venmo records showing the business purpose in the payment descriptions, and consider creating a simple spreadsheet that lists each payment with details about what work was performed. One tip that really helped me - I went back and asked each freelancer to send me a brief email confirming what services they provided and when. This created additional documentation beyond just the Venmo transactions. It was awkward to explain but everyone was understanding once I said it was for tax compliance. Also definitely switch to Venmo Business or a proper business bank account going forward. The fees are worth it for the cleaner record-keeping and professional appearance. You've got this - it's a common mistake and easily fixable!

Has anyone used a Backdoor Roth IRA in this situation? My income is too high for regular Roth contributions, but my financial advisor mentioned this strategy with my severance.

Another option to consider is opening a Solo 401(k) if you do any freelance or consulting work while receiving severance. Even small amounts of self-employment income can qualify you, and the contribution limits are much higher than IRAs - up to $70,000 for 2025 if you're under 50. I was in a similar situation and started doing some freelance work on the side. The Solo 401(k) allowed me to shelter a significant portion of both my freelance income AND make additional contributions beyond what I could with just an IRA. You can contribute both as the employee (up to $23,500) and as the employer (up to 25% of net self-employment income). Just make sure to set it up before December 31st if you want to make contributions for this tax year. The paperwork is pretty straightforward and many brokerages offer them with minimal fees.

lol the irs is such a clown show these days. theyre so backed up they probably wont even look at ur return til 2027 🤡

Just went through something similar last year. The IRS did request documentation for my child care credit during correspondence audit. Even without original receipts, I was able to piece together proof using bank statements, credit card records, and a signed statement from my daycare provider confirming the amounts and dates. Also had to provide Form W-10 info for the provider. It was stressful but manageable if you can show a clear payment trail. The key is being proactive about gathering alternative documentation now.