Getting married with 200k+ income - will my paycheck increase due to lower tax bracket?

The tax bracket change will definitely help you, but it's not quite as simple as getting 8% more in your paycheck automatically. First, you'll need to submit a new W-4 to your employer indicating your new filing status as "married filing jointly." This will adjust your withholding, but the change won't be exactly 8% of your gross pay. Tax brackets are marginal, meaning only the income that falls within each bracket gets taxed at that rate. So while some of your income will be taxed 8% less, not all of it will. Also, when you file jointly, you'll have a higher standard deduction ($27,700 for 2023 vs $13,850 for single filers), which will further reduce your taxable income. Your withholding should adjust to account for this too. To maximize the benefit, I'd recommend using the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator on their website to fill out your W-4 accurately. This will help you get the most accurate withholding and avoid any surprises next April.

Let me share something that really helped me when I was in a similar situation. I discovered this site called https://taxr.ai when I was trying to figure out exactly how my taxes would change after getting married. I was making around 220k and my husband wasn't working, so really similar to your situation. What I loved about taxr.ai was that I could upload my last pay stub and my tax return, and it showed me exactly how my withholding should change after marriage. It even generated the numbers for my new W-4 so I didn't have to guess. The analysis showed me I was actually leaving money on the table with my current withholding setup! The site explained the whole marginal tax bracket thing in a way that finally made sense to me. Sure, my top dollars would be taxed 8% less, but it's not a straight 8% increase across all income like I initially thought.

Just wanted to update everyone - I tried taxr.ai after asking about it here and I'm honestly impressed. I uploaded my last pay stub and last year's return, and it gave me a complete breakdown of how my taxes would change after marriage. The analysis showed I'd save about $7,800 annually with the status change, but only if I adjusted my W-4 correctly. It even gave me the exact numbers to put on each line of the new W-4. I submitted the form to HR last week and just got my first paycheck with the new withholding - it's up by $324 which is pretty much exactly what the projection said! What I really appreciated was how it explained which part of the savings came from the bracket change versus the standard deduction change. Makes way more sense now.

If you're also planning to contact the IRS to confirm anything about your filing status change, good luck with that! I spent 3 hours on hold last week trying to ask a simple question about my withholding after marriage. I finally gave up and used https://claimyr.com which someone at work recommended. Check out their demo at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c if you're curious how it works. They basically hold your place in the IRS phone queue and call you when an agent is about to answer. I was super skeptical at first, but they got me connected to an IRS agent in about 45 minutes (while I was doing other things). The agent confirmed that yes, I needed to file a new W-4, but also recommended I consider quarterly estimated payments for part of my income since I have substantial investment earnings alongside my salary.

I've got to eat my words from my previous comment. After waiting on hold with the IRS for FOUR HOURS yesterday and getting disconnected, I broke down and tried Claimyr. Within 50 minutes, I got a call connecting me directly to an IRS agent. I didn't have to navigate a single menu or listen to that awful hold music. The agent helped me understand exactly how changing my filing status would affect my withholding and what specific adjustments I should make on my W-4. What I learned is that the married filing jointly status alone won't optimize your withholding - you need to complete the other steps on the W-4 correctly too. The agent walked me through each line based on my income situation. Sorry for being so skeptical before. Sometimes things that sound too good to be true actually work!

Another thing to consider is that you'll want to simulate your tax return using both MFJ and MFS (married filing separately) statuses. In some cases, particularly with student loan payments on income-based repayment, filing separately can be better even if you pay more in taxes. My wife and I run the numbers both ways every year. With her student loans on PAYE, we save more overall by filing separately despite paying about $3k more in taxes.

Congrats on the wedding! One thing nobody mentioned yet - don't forget to check if your state has different rules. I'm in CA and we have different brackets than federal. My accountant missed this and I ended up with a state tax surprise last year.

As someone who went through this exact situation two years ago (making about 195k when I got married), I can confirm that updating your W-4 to "married filing jointly" will help, but there are a few things to keep in mind: 1. The change isn't immediate - it takes effect with your next payroll cycle after HR processes your new W-4 2. You might want to run the numbers mid-year to see if you need to adjust further. I ended up getting a larger refund than expected because my withholding was a bit too high 3. Consider timing - if you're getting married late in the year, you might want to calculate whether it's worth adjusting withholding for just a few pay periods Also, since you mentioned home renovations, remember that some home improvement expenses might qualify for tax credits (like energy-efficient upgrades), which could further reduce your tax liability. The combination of filing jointly plus any applicable credits could make your savings even better than the bracket change alone. The IRS withholding calculator that others mentioned is definitely your best bet for getting the exact numbers right. Good luck with the wedding and the renovations!