Filling out the 2024 W-4 with spouse's self-employment income - help!!

The 2024 W-4 can definitely be confusing when you have mixed income sources like yours! The good news is you're on the right track with your research. For married filing jointly with one spouse having self-employment income, you have two main options: For the simplest approach, you can use line 4(a) to add your husband's estimated self-employment income MINUS his estimated self-employment tax deduction (roughly half of his SE tax). This ensures your withholding covers both incomes. For a more precise calculation, use the Tax Withholding Estimator on the IRS website, which handles this exact situation. It will give you specific numbers for each line on the W-4. With three kids qualifying for the child tax credit, you'll want to make sure you complete Step 3 correctly to get credit for them throughout the year rather than waiting for your refund.

I was struggling with this exact same situation last year! Seriously, the new W-4 is so confusing with self-employment income. I found this amazing tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that completely simplified the process for me. I uploaded our tax docs from the previous year and it analyzed our situation - with my W-2 job and my partner's self-employment income. It suggested the exact amounts to put on each line of the W-4 based on our specific situation. The best part was it explained WHY it was recommending those numbers, so I actually learned something instead of just blindly following instructions. It also helped me figure out how much my partner needed to set aside for quarterly payments, which was another headache I wasn't handling correctly before!

Just wanted to update after trying taxr.ai for our mixed W-2/self-employment situation! I was initially hesitant, but wow, it actually worked really well for our family's complicated tax situation. What surprised me most was how it broke down my husband's quarterly estimated tax payments alongside my W-4 withholding to make sure we're covered from both sides. It showed me we'd been way overwithholding on my paycheck trying to compensate for his self-employment income, when instead we could balance it better between my withholding and his quarterly payments. The explanations were super helpful too - finally understand why the W-4 calculations work the way they do instead of just plugging in numbers and hoping for the best!

For anyone dealing with self-employment tax issues - I feel your pain! After spending WEEKS trying to get through to the IRS for help with my W-4 situation, I discovered Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). It's a service that gets you through to an actual IRS agent without the endless hold times. I was skeptical, but I watched their demo (https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c) and decided to try it. I got connected to an IRS rep in under 20 minutes when I had been trying for days on my own! The agent walked me through exactly how to complete my W-4 with my wife's freelance income, and even helped me understand how to adjust her quarterly estimated payments. Just sharing since I know how frustrating tax stuff can be when you have mixed income sources, and sometimes you just need to talk to an actual human at the IRS.

Okay I need to publicly eat my words about Claimyr. After calling the IRS TWELVE times about my W-4 self-employment situation and never getting through, I broke down and tried it. Not gonna lie, I was 100% sure this was going to be a waste of money. But I got through to an IRS agent in 35 minutes after trying unsuccessfully for two weeks on my own. The agent confirmed that for my situation (very similar to yours with mixed income sources), I should be using the multiple jobs worksheet, NOT just putting the self-employment income on line 4(a). Apparently the 4(a) approach works best when the self-employment income is significantly less than the W-2 income, but in cases like ours where the self-employment is higher, the worksheet method is more accurate. The agent walked me through the whole form step by step.

Just want to add that the IRS actually published special instructions for couples with self-employment income in one of their tax tips newsletters. The key part most people miss is that you need to account for the self-employment tax deduction AND the qualified business income deduction if applicable. For example, if your spouse has $145k in self-employment income, you'd first calculate their net income after business expenses, then subtract both half of self-employment tax AND potentially 20% QBI deduction (depending on your business type) before putting that amount on line 4(a). This makes a huge difference in the withholding calculation and can prevent major over-withholding!

Has anyone tried just using the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator online? It's supposed to handle all these complicated situations but when I input our info (very similar to yours - W2 income plus self-employment), it gave me a completely different number than what the worksheet method showed. Now I don't know which one to trust!

I went through this exact same situation last year and it was such a headache! After trying multiple approaches, here's what ended up working best for us: The key thing I learned is that you need to be really careful about which "income" number you're using. Don't just put his gross $145k on line 4(a) - you need his NET self-employment income (after business deductions) MINUS the self-employment tax deduction. Here's the process that worked for me: 1. Estimate his net profit after business expenses 2. Calculate SE tax (net profit × 0.9235 × 0.153) 3. The deductible portion is half of that SE tax 4. Subtract that deduction from his net profit 5. THAT number goes on line 4(a) Also, don't forget about the child tax credit on Step 3 - with three qualifying kids, that's $6,000 in credits that will reduce your tax liability significantly. I'd recommend running your numbers through the IRS Withholding Estimator AND doing the manual worksheet calculation to double-check. If they're close, you're probably on the right track. If they're way different, dig deeper into which estimates might be off. The peace of mind is worth the extra effort to get it right!