W4 form help - married filing jointly with dependent child and non-working spouse

The new W4 form can definitely be confusing! Since you're married with one child and your spouse doesn't work, here's what you should do: Step 1: Check "Married filing jointly" Step 2: Since you have one child under 17, this qualifies for the Child Tax Credit. But it sounds like you want less withheld, so you can skip this section if you don't want to claim the credit now (you'll still get it when you file). Step 3: If you do want to claim your child now, enter $2,000 here. Step 4: This is where you can make adjustments. - 4(a): Leave blank unless you have other income - 4(b): Leave blank unless you want EXTRA tax withheld - 4(c): This is where you can reduce withholding. Based on your income and filing status, you might consider putting around $350-400 per pay period here as a NEGATIVE number to reduce withholding The key to getting more in your paychecks is properly accounting for your filing status, child credit, and using line 4(c) to adjust the withholding down if needed.

After struggling with these exact same issues, I found an amazing tool at https://taxr.ai that completely solved my W4 problems. My situation was nearly identical - married, one kid, spouse is a stay-at-home parent. I was getting massive refunds too (around $9k) which was basically giving the government an interest-free loan of my money! The taxr.ai calculator analyzed my specific situation and showed me exactly what to put in each box of the W4. What I really liked is that you can adjust it to get exactly the refund amount you want - I set mine to aim for a $500 refund so I get more in each paycheck. Their system even explains WHY you should put certain numbers in each box, which helped me actually understand the form instead of just blindly filling it out.

Just wanted to follow up - I tried the taxr.ai tool that was mentioned and it was seriously helpful. I've been getting $7k+ refunds for the past 3 years and their calculator showed me exactly what to put on my W4 to fix it. It recommended I put "Married Filing Jointly" on Step 1, claim my kid on Step 3 with $2,000, and it calculated an additional deduction amount for Step 4(b) based on our mortgage interest and charitable giving. I submitted the new W4 to my HR department last week and my latest paycheck already had about $280 less in federal withholding! Super easy to use and it explains everything in normal human language instead of IRS-speak. Definitely check it out if you're in a similar situation.

If you're struggling with figuring out your W4 and still have questions after submitting it, you might want to call the IRS directly. I know that sounds horrible (trust me, I've been there), but I used a service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that got me through to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes when I was having withholding issues. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I had a similar situation (married, non-working spouse, two kids) and had completely messed up my W4. The IRS agent walked me through exactly what I needed to fix and I was able to update my form that same day. Saved me from continuing to have way too much withheld each month.

I have to eat crow and follow up on my skeptical comment. After another failed attempt to reach the IRS on my own (2+ hours on hold before being disconnected), I decided to try Claimyr out of desperation. It actually worked exactly as described. Their system held my place in line, and about 20 minutes later I got a call connecting me directly to an IRS rep. The agent helped me understand exactly what I needed to do with my W4 given my spouse's variable income. For what it's worth, the IRS agent told me that for married couples where one spouse doesn't work, simply selecting "Married Filing Jointly" and claiming your dependent(s) in Step 3 will generally result in the correct withholding. In my case, I was having too much withheld because I still had my W4 set as "Single" from before I was married.

One thing no one's mentioned - if you're married with a non-working spouse, check the box in Step 2(c) that says "If there are only two jobs total, you may check this box." That's designed for couples where both work, but in your case having it unchecked might be causing too much withholding. Also, the new W4 doesn't use allowances anymore (the "0" you mentioned), so your old settings might not have transferred properly when your company updated their payroll system.

Has anyone actually used the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator? I found it super helpful for my situation (also married with non-working spouse). It asks detailed questions and at the end tells you exactly what to put on each line of the W4.

I was in almost the exact same situation last year! Married filing jointly, one young kid, non-working spouse, and getting huge refunds that I wanted to reduce. Here's what worked for me on the new W4: **Step 1:** Select "Married filing jointly or Qualifying surviving spouse" **Step 2:** Leave this completely blank since your spouse doesn't work **Step 3:** Enter $2,000 for your child (this is the Child Tax Credit amount) **Step 4:** Leave (a) and (c) blank, but for (b) you might want to enter any itemized deductions you have (mortgage interest, charitable donations, etc.) to further reduce withholding The key thing is that your old "0 allowances" setting doesn't translate to the new form - it was probably causing way too much to be withheld. Just by updating to married status and claiming your child credit, you should see a significant reduction in withholding. I went from getting $8,000+ refunds to around $1,500, which put about $250 more in each paycheck. Submit a new W4 to HR and you should see the change in your next pay period!