been a while since wife worked, but she is starting a new job this fall and they asked her to fill out w-4. I have one for my job obviously. I want to do my best in estimating withholding. Any recs? Also, I read somewhere that if we file jointly there should only be one set of w-4 forms? Do our w-4's need to match? I don't want to double up on dependents, etc

As long as you withhold as much as you owed last year you won't get a penalty (assuming you filed jointly last year and plan to again for this year). If you don't mind owing a little most years I would recommend just spot checking every quarter to make sure you are on track to do that and keep enough money in your emergency budget to cover the tax bill at the end of the year.

No idea if w4 is used for anything more than notifying payroll of your elections (I. E. Not actual fl filed with IRS or anyone). No requirement at all that each taxpayer's matches another.

As far as working spouse advice, be aware the employer assumes what they pay you is all you make. So, depending on salary, could be way wrong.

For instance, say you make $300k, and wife takes job making 70k. You may be in 34% bracket for all of wife's incremental income, but her employer withhold potentially next to nothing based on her income alone.

Aggie95 said:

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been a while since wife worked, but she is starting a new job this fall and they asked her to fill out w-4. I have one for my job obviously. I want to do my best in estimating withholding. Any recs? Also, I read somewhere that if we file jointly there should only be one set of w-4 forms? Do our w-4's need to match? I don't want to double up on dependents, etc

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Yes both your W4s should be the same. Use the 2 employer worksheet thingy.

You can do a w-4 worksheet that will combine the two. For me, that is harder to complete. Personally, I have the wife withhold as little as possible and worry about mine. I can adjust mine easily, it is much harder to get my wife to get hers fixed.

hypeiv said:

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As long as you withhold as much as you owed last year you won't get a penalty (assuming you filed jointly last year and plan to again for this year). If you don't mind owing a little most years I would recommend just spot checking every quarter to make sure you are on track to do that and keep enough money in your emergency budget to cover the tax bill at the end of the year.

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Depends on income level so this isn't entirely true.

Harkrider 93 said:

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You can do a w-4 worksheet that will combine the two. For me, that is harder to complete. Personally, I have the wife withhold as little as possible and worry about mine. I can adjust mine easily, it is much harder to get my wife to get hers fixed.

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I relate so much to the reasoning on this one!

Be careful not to claim the same dependents on each form. The new W-4 does a better job than the old one for calculating withholding with dependents and putting them on both will cause you to withhold too little.