Changed W4 to married filing jointly and now paying way less tax - is this right?

This is actually pretty common when switching from single to married filing jointly! The withholding tables assume your income is the only household income, which is why you're seeing less tax taken out. But with both you and your spouse working, you could end up underwithholding. Here's what I'd recommend: Both you and your spouse should check box 2(c) on your W4 forms, which is for "multiple jobs or spouse works." This tells your employer to withhold at a higher single rate. Alternatively, you could use the Two-Earners/Multiple Jobs Worksheet on the W4 or use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator online to get a more precise calculation, especially since your incomes are somewhat similar. If you don't adjust now, you might end up owing when you file next year, but it probably won't be catastrophic given your income levels.

I ran into this exact situation last year and ended up getting burned with a $3,200 tax bill! I used this tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that analyzed my pay stubs and tax situation and gave me a custom calculation for exactly how much extra to withhold. It was way more accurate than just checking that box 2c which didn't withhold enough in my case. The tool basically looked at our combined income and figured out we were hitting a higher tax bracket together, something the standard W4 doesn't account for well. Saved me from another surprise this year!

Just wanted to follow up - I actually tried that taxr.ai tool after my skeptical comment. It was surprisingly helpful! My situation was that I got married AND changed jobs this year, so my withholding was all messed up. The tool showed I was heading toward underpaying by about $2,100 for the year. What I really liked was that it didn't just give me a number - it showed exactly how to fill out the W4 form with the extra withholding amount and explained which parts of our combined income were pushing us into higher tax brackets. I've adjusted both our W4s now and feel way more confident about our tax situation.

If you're still having trouble figuring out the right withholding and need to talk to the IRS, good luck getting through to them! I spent HOURS on hold last month trying to get some answers about our withholding situation. Finally found this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that got me a callback from the IRS in about 20 minutes instead of waiting on hold forever. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent I talked to explained that the married filing jointly withholding tables assume one person is the primary earner and the other earner makes little to no income. Since both you and your spouse make substantial incomes, you'll definitely need to adjust your withholding using either box 2(c) or the multiple jobs worksheet.

I need to eat crow here. After posting that skeptical comment, my frustration with trying to get through to the IRS about my amended return got the best of me, and I tried Claimyr out of desperation. I got a callback from an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes. The agent was able to fix an issue with my account that had been preventing my refund from processing for over 2 months. Would have saved myself weeks of stress if I'd just used this service sooner instead of repeatedly calling and getting disconnected. Sometimes it's worth it to pay for convenience, especially when dealing with the IRS during tax season.

One thing nobody mentioned yet - if you're worried about underwithholding, you could also just make quarterly estimated tax payments to cover the difference. My spouse and I both work, and rather than messing with our W4s constantly, we just calculate our likely shortfall and make quarterly payments. You can pay online through the IRS Direct Pay system, and it's pretty easy. Just select "estimated tax" as the reason. This way your regular paychecks stay consistent, but you're still staying on top of your tax liability.

When I got married, we both kept our W4s at "single" rate for the first year just to be safe. Yes, we overwitheld and got a big refund, but I'd rather get a refund than owe! In your situation with two decent incomes, definitely check that box 2c at minimum.