Just married- tax edition

You make 50K more or 50K total?

The married withholding tables assume only one spouse is working. Plus you are already almost halfway through the year.

I'd consider staying single and zero for both of you, maybe do single and one. See how the year ends up and what kind of refund you get, and go from there.

I make 50k more than her. I may take your advice and stay with single. I'd rather receive a refund than owe money.

for most people, married filing jointly works best.

If you had waited to be married on Dec 31, 2016, you can file jointly.

If you make 50k more than her, there's a possibility that you may need to claim 0 and withhold additional

I claim 0 and withhold an additional 100 per check and ours comes out pretty close.

Depends on the exact incomes though

I am having a lot of trouble following this thread. Why would he "owe more" just because he got married?

If his wife is barely earning anything yet he stills gets her standard deduction and personal exemption, I struggle to see how his effective tax rate goes up during the year. What am I missing here?

The tax brackets adjust for single vs. married filing jointly are quite different.





If she is a full-time student, she might be earning 25-30k which puts him around $80k ("$50k more than her")...combined $110k? The OP should provide more detail here.

Again...I struggle with understanding why their tax liability would go up by filing married jointly.

ETA: Filing and Withholding are two very different things...maybe that is where some confusion exists?

It is pretty easy to forecast your tax liability by filing married jointly and forecast your current withholding rates for the remainder of the year. If there is a shortage/overage then adjust accordingly.

quote:

---

You can claim whatever you want on a W4. Question is how much do you want to potentially owe or receive as a refund when you file your taxes next April?

---

I meant file for the year. That was unclear on my part. Thanks for the clarification