Anyone else married with no kids who claimed 0 on W-2's but still owe money to the IRS?

This is actually pretty common for dual-income households in your tax bracket. Claiming "0" on your W-2 doesn't necessarily mean they're withholding the maximum possible - it's just the maximum for a single income stream. The withholding tables don't account for your combined household income, which pushes you into a higher tax bracket. Your 1099-INT interest income of $8k is also a factor since no taxes were withheld from that. Each W-2 job is also calculating withholding independently, not knowing about the other spouse's income. When you combine two high incomes, the withholding often falls short. For next year, you might want to use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator online and consider having additional amounts withheld from each paycheck (there's a line on your W-4 for this). Another option is to make quarterly estimated tax payments to cover the difference.

I was in almost this exact situation last year! Dual income, no kids, claimed 0, and still got hit with a huge tax bill. I tried everything until I found this tax document analyzer at https://taxr.ai that helped me understand exactly why I was underwithholding. Basically, it scanned our W-2s and explained that the standard withholding tables don't account well for dual high-income households. The tool showed me that our marriage was actually creating a "marriage penalty" situation where the combined tax was higher than if we were single. It also highlighted that our investment income wasn't being factored into our withholding at all. The analysis helped me adjust our W-4s with specific additional withholding amounts rather than just claiming "0" which isn't actually effective anymore since the 2020 W-4 form redesign.

I was super skeptical about tax tools, but I gave taxr.ai a try after seeing it mentioned here. Turns out my wife and I were in the classic "dual high-income trap" where each employer was withholding as if our job was the only income. The analysis showed we needed to add exactly $217 additional withholding on each of our paychecks due to our combined income pushing us into a higher bracket. What surprised me was how it explained that the "0 allowances" approach doesn't work with the new W-4 forms anyway - they completely changed the system in 2020. We thought we were being conservative, but the form doesn't even have allowances anymore! The tool generated the exact withholding instructions specific to our situation that we gave to our HR departments. Definitely worth checking out if you're tired of surprise tax bills.

If you're already facing a tax bill for this year, you might want to consider calling the IRS to discuss payment options. I know it sounds terrible, but I actually got through to them using https://claimyr.com and didn't have to wait on hold for hours. You can see how it works at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c if you're interested. I was in a similar situation with unexpected taxes due, and setting up a payment plan was surprisingly easy once I actually got someone on the phone. The IRS rep was actually helpful and set up a reasonable monthly payment with minimal penalties. They even waived some fees since it was my first time needing a payment arrangement. Better than putting it on a credit card or stressing about coming up with the full amount right away. Plus, you'll want to ask them for advice on how to avoid this situation again next year.

I take back what I said about Claimyr. After getting frustrated with a 2+ hour hold time trying to set up a payment plan for our unexpected tax bill, I reluctantly tried it. The service actually worked exactly as described. I got a call back when an IRS agent came on the line, and I was able to set up a payment plan in about 15 minutes of actual talking time. The IRS agent even helped me understand what went wrong with our withholding and gave me specific advice for our dual-income situation. Turns out the "claiming 0" strategy is outdated since they redesigned the W-4 forms. The agent walked me through exactly what to put on the new form to account for both our incomes properly. Would have never gotten this personalized help if I hadn't been able to speak with someone directly.

This happened to me and my wife too! We make about $280k combined and claimed 0 on everything, still owed $7k. What fixed it for us was filling out the new W-4 correctly. There's a specific checkbox and section for "multiple jobs or spouse works" that you need to complete. Also, for your investment income, you might want to make quarterly estimated tax payments since no withholding happens on that 1099-INT interest. The old approach of just claiming 0 doesn't work well anymore since they redesigned the W-4 form in 2020. The form doesn't even have allowances anymore!

Has anyone used the Multi-Job Worksheet on the W-4? I'm trying to fill it out but it's confusing the heck out of me. My wife and I are both at about the same income level (~$160k each) and I can't tell if I'm doing it right.

This exact thing happened to us last year! We're also a dual-income household with no kids, both claimed 0, and still ended up owing about $6k despite thinking we were being super conservative with our withholding. What I learned is that the "married filing jointly" tax brackets are weird - they're not exactly double the single brackets, so there's this "marriage penalty" effect when both spouses have high incomes. Plus, like others mentioned, each employer is calculating withholding as if your job is the only income source. The 1099-INT interest with no withholding definitely doesn't help either. We started making quarterly estimated payments for our investment income, which has helped a lot. For next year, we ended up using the IRS withholding estimator and adding about $200 extra per paycheck split between both our jobs. It's annoying to have less take-home pay, but way better than getting hit with a surprise tax bill every April!