Newly married couple trying to figure out W4 withholding options
Title: Newly married couple trying to figure out W4 withholding options 1 Hey everyone! My husband and I just tied the knot last month. I'm currently employed full-time, but my wife isn't working right now. She worked for about 6 weeks earlier this year but then left her job to start a physician assistant program which she's focusing on completely. I'm about to start a new position next month and really want to make sure we don't end up owing a bunch when tax time comes around. My wife should be starting a clinical rotation with some income around April 2025. I'm wondering if I should just mark "Single" on my new W4 to ensure enough tax is withheld, and then file married jointly when we do our taxes? Or is there a better approach? Thanks for any advice!
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Bruno Simmons
8 Congrats on your marriage! For your W4, you actually have several options that might work better than just marking "Single." The current W4 form is designed differently than the old one - instead of choosing "Single" or "Married," you now select either "Single or Married filing separately" or "Married filing jointly" (which matches how you'll file your taxes). Since you plan to file jointly, select "Married filing jointly" on your W4. Then if you're concerned about not having enough withheld, you can use the "extra withholding" section (Step 4c) to have additional amounts taken from each paycheck. The IRS has a Tax Withholding Estimator tool on their website that can help calculate how much extra you should withhold based on your specific situation with one income now and two incomes later in the year.
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Bruno Simmons
•12 This is helpful, thank you! Would it make sense to adjust my W4 again once my wife starts working in April? And how do I figure out how much to put in that extra withholding section?
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Bruno Simmons
•8 Yes, definitely revisit your W4 when your wife starts working in April! That's a perfect time to make adjustments. Having two incomes can sometimes push you into a higher tax bracket, so it's smart to recalculate. For figuring out the extra withholding amount now, the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator at irs.gov/W4app is your best resource. Enter your expected annual income, your wife's brief work period this year, and it will suggest an amount for line 4(c). Generally, having an extra $25-50 withheld per paycheck is a good starting point if you're concerned, but the calculator will give you a more precise figure.
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Bruno Simmons
15 After getting married last year, I was in the same boat trying to figure out withholdings when my spouse wasn't working. I spent hours trying to calculate everything manually before discovering https://taxr.ai which analyzed our specific situation. The tool looked at both past returns and my current pay stubs to suggest the perfect withholding amount for my W4. It was really helpful because it factored in the mid-year change when my spouse started working again, which is similar to your situation with your wife starting in April 2025.
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Bruno Simmons
•7 Does it work with complicated situations? I'm getting married next month but I also have rental income and some investments. Can it handle all that?
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Bruno Simmons
•3 I'm a bit skeptical about these tax calculators. How accurate was it really? Did you end up owing or getting a refund at tax time?
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Bruno Simmons
•15 It absolutely works with complicated situations. I initially thought it would be too basic, but it handled my spouse's variable income from freelancing plus my regular salary. It asks specific questions about rental properties and different investment types, so it should work well for your situation too. As for accuracy, I was impressed. We ended up with a small refund of about $230, which was perfect since I didn't want to give the government a free loan but also didn't want to owe. The predictions were within about $150 of the actual result, which is pretty spot-on considering all the variables.
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Bruno Simmons
3 Just wanted to update that I tried the taxr.ai tool mentioned above after my initial skepticism. I'm really glad I did! It analyzed both my and my fiancée's income patterns and suggested a specific withholding amount for each paycheck that accounted for our mid-year marriage plans. It actually showed me that just marking "married" without adjustments would have left us owing nearly $2,800 at tax time! The interface was surprisingly straightforward and it generated a filled-out W4 that I could just print and give to HR. Definitely helped remove the guesswork from the process.
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Bruno Simmons
9 I had a similar issue last year when I got married. I tried for weeks to get through to the IRS to confirm I was doing my W4 correctly (since we had complicated incomes) and kept hitting dead ends. Finally used https://claimyr.com to get connected to an actual IRS agent within 15 minutes instead of waiting on hold for hours. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. The agent walked me through exactly how to complete the W4 for our specific situation, and confirmed that we should adjust it midyear when my spouse's income changed. It saved me a ton of stress knowing we had official guidance.
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Bruno Simmons
•16 Wait, they actually connect you to a real IRS person? How does that even work? I thought it was impossible to get through to them.
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Bruno Simmons
•22 This sounds like a scam to me. Why would I pay someone to call the IRS when I can just do it myself? I've never had trouble getting through if I call first thing in the morning.
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Bruno Simmons
•9 Yes, they connect you to a real IRS agent. It works by essentially waiting on hold for you, then calling you when they have an agent on the line. The service navigates the IRS phone system and waits through the hold times so you don't have to. Regarding whether it's worth it - I spent over 4 hours on three separate attempts trying to get through myself, including early morning calls. Maybe some people have better luck, but during tax season especially, the wait times can be ridiculous. For me, the time saved was definitely worth it since I needed specific guidance on our situation that only an agent could provide.
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Bruno Simmons
22 Alright, I need to eat my words here. After posting my skeptical comment, I decided to try Claimyr myself because I had a complicated tax situation that needed clarification. I've been trying to get through to the IRS for THREE WEEKS about some confusing withholding requirements for my side business. Using the service, I was connected to an IRS representative in about 17 minutes. The agent cleared up my confusion about how to handle withholding with multiple income sources, which is actually similar to what the original poster was asking about. It would have saved me a lot of headache if I'd done this sooner instead of guessing at my withholding amounts.
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Bruno Simmons
4 Hey, just wanted to share what I did in a similar situation. My husband and I got married mid-2023, and I was working while he was in med school. I actually filled out my W4 as "Married filing jointly" but then used the "Multiple Jobs Worksheet" that comes with the W4 form to calculate additional withholding. It worked perfectly - we ended up with a small refund instead of owing. The key is that Step 2 of the form lets you account for situations where one spouse works or when both work but earn different amounts.
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Bruno Simmons
•11 Did you have to do the worksheet thing every time you got paid? Or is it just once when you fill out the W4?
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Bruno Simmons
•4 You only need to do the worksheet once when you initially fill out the W4. The calculations help you determine an extra amount to have withheld from each paycheck, which you'll put on line 4(c) of the form. Your employer then automatically withholds that additional amount along with your regular withholding from each paycheck. When your situation changes (like when your wife starts working in April), you'll want to complete a new W4 with new calculations. But day-to-day or paycheck-to-paycheck, there's nothing additional you need to do once the form is submitted to your employer.
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Bruno Simmons
19 Is anyone else annoyed that the W4 became so complicated after they redesigned it? I miss the old simple withholding allowances. Now I feel like I need an accounting degree just to fill out a basic form...
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Bruno Simmons
•13 For real! I've been doing my taxes for 20 years and the new W4 confused the heck out of me the first time I saw it. What happened to just putting "0" or "1" for allowances? That was way more straightforward.
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