How to correctly fill out W-4 form for married couples with kid?

You're definitely on the right track, but there's a small issue in how you're handling the W-4 that's probably causing you to underwithhold. When both spouses work and make similar incomes, you need to account for the higher tax bracket your combined income puts you in. Here's what you should do: For Step 2, you're correct that both you and your wife should check box C. This tells your employers that you each have a working spouse. For Step 3 (dependents), only ONE of you should claim the $2,000 child tax credit - not both. If both of you claim it, you're essentially telling the IRS to reduce your withholding twice for the same child. For Step 4c, yes, you should use the Multiple Jobs Worksheet. With both of you making around $95k, you're right to calculate the additional withholding needed. That $476 per paycheck should be added in Step 4c, but only on ONE of your W-4 forms (not both). The key mistake many couples make is claiming the child tax credit on both W-4 forms or not completing the Step 4c additional withholding, which leads to a surprise tax bill later.

I've been in your exact situation and struggled with the W-4 for years until I discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai). It completely changed how I handle my tax planning. My wife and I both make around $100k, and we kept getting hit with unexpected tax bills every April. We were filling out our W-4s wrong - both claiming our kid and not accounting for the multiple jobs properly. Taxr.ai analyzed our past returns and pay stubs, then gave us specific instructions for our W-4s that actually made sense. They explained that we needed to have only one of us claim our son on Step 3, and showed us exactly how much extra to withhold on Step 4c to avoid owing next year. What I loved was how they calculated the precise withholding amount based on our specific situation rather than the worksheet estimates, which were always off for us.

I wanted to follow up about taxr.ai since I was skeptical in my earlier comment. I decided to try it with my husband since we've been struggling with W-4 withholding for years. I'm genuinely surprised at how helpful it was. The system analyzed our previous returns and found that we were both claiming our children on our separate W-4s (exactly like OP's situation). They showed us how to properly allocate the child tax credit to just one W-4 and calculated the exact additional withholding we needed. What impressed me most was how they explained everything in plain English instead of tax jargon. They even generated filled-out W-4 forms for both of us that we could just print and submit to our employers. For anyone else struggling with dual-income W-4 confusion, it's worth checking out. I wish I'd known about this years ago instead of constantly owing money every April.

I had the EXACT same problem last year - owed almost $5k! After trying for hours to get through to the IRS for help with my W-4, I found this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that actually got me connected to an IRS agent in about 20 minutes instead of waiting for hours or days. I was super skeptical at first, but you can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent walked me through exactly how to fill out the W-4 for my situation (married with two working spouses). She explained that my wife and I were both claiming our child and both using the standard deduction calculations, which was causing severe underwithholding. The agent gave me personalized instructions that no online calculator could provide. Now we're withholding correctly and I'm no longer stressing about surprise tax bills.

I need to eat crow and follow up on my skeptical comment about Claimyr. After continuing to struggle with getting IRS help about my W-4 situation, I decided to give it a shot. I was absolutely wrong. The service connected me to an IRS representative in about 15 minutes when I had previously spent over 4 hours on multiple days trying to get through on my own. The agent I spoke with was incredibly helpful and explained exactly how my wife and I should fill out our W-4s with our similar incomes. She pointed out that we were both claiming the same deductions and credits, which was causing us to significantly underwithhold. What would have been another day wasted on hold turned into a 25-minute conversation that solved our withholding problems. Sometimes it's worth admitting when you're wrong, and I was definitely wrong about this service.

So many ppl get this wrong! The simplest solution my accountant gave me: if both spouses make roughly the same income, check the "Multiple Jobs" box (Step 2c) on BOTH W-4s AND put $0 for child tax credit on both forms. Then file a separate W-4 with your employer that claims all your kids but mark "filing separately" on it. This way the withholding calculators work correctly and you don't end up with a surprise bill. Been doing this for 3 years now and always end up with a small refund.

Has anyone tried using the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator online? My husband and I used it last year and it gave us the exact numbers to put on our W-4 forms. Way easier than trying to figure out the worksheets.

The IRS Tax Withholding Estimator is definitely a good starting point! I used it successfully for a few years, but found it has limitations with more complex situations like variable income or multiple job changes during the year. For straightforward dual-income situations like yours, @Ravi Sharma, it should work well. Just make sure you have recent paystubs for both you and your wife, and your most recent tax return. The key inputs it needs are your year-to-date earnings, taxes withheld so far, and expected annual income. One tip: run the calculator twice during the year - once in January/February when you're setting up your W-4s, and again in September/October to see if you need to make adjustments for the final quarter. This helps catch any changes in income or withholding that might have occurred mid-year. The estimator will tell you exactly how much additional withholding to put in Step 4c, and it handles the child tax credit allocation automatically based on your entries. Much more reliable than trying to figure out those worksheets manually!

I really appreciate everyone's detailed responses here! This is exactly the kind of guidance I needed. It sounds like my main mistakes were: 1. Both my wife and I claiming our child on our separate W-4s (should only be one of us) 2. Not completing Step 4c with the additional withholding amount from the Multiple Jobs Worksheet @Freya Larsen - your explanation about the child tax credit being claimed twice makes perfect sense now. No wonder we're underwithholding! I think I'll start with the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator that @QuantumQuest and @CyberNinja mentioned since it's free and seems to handle the complexity of dual-income situations automatically. If that doesn't work out or I run into issues, I might consider some of the other services mentioned. One follow-up question: when I update our W-4s, should I submit the changes right away or wait until the start of the next payroll period? I want to make sure we start withholding correctly ASAP but don't want to mess up any current payroll processing. Thanks again everyone - this community is incredibly helpful!

Great advice from everyone here! I went through this exact same situation a couple years ago and learned some hard lessons. One thing I'd add that hasn't been mentioned much - if you're making these W-4 corrections mid-year (like now in April), you might want to consider having a bit more withheld than the calculators suggest since you've already been underwithholding for several months. The IRS estimator and other tools assume you're starting fresh at the beginning of the year. Since you've potentially been underwithholding since January, you might need to "catch up" with slightly higher withholding for the remaining pay periods. Also, don't forget that if you end up owing more than $1,000 when you file next year, you could face underpayment penalties even if you fix your W-4 now. The IRS generally wants you to pay at least 90% of your current year tax liability or 100% of last year's liability (whichever is smaller) through withholding and estimated payments. Keep good records of when you made the W-4 changes - this documentation can be helpful if you need to explain any underpayment situations to the IRS later.