Hi all, my wife and I got married a few years back and MFJ really screwed us over this year. The account said to file single, but everything I've read says I'll be committing tax fraud if we both file single if we're legally married (which we are).
In this case, to ensure more deductions in the future (essentially a little under double what they're taking out), do we then just ask our respective payrolls to deduct more taxes? Or is there another status we should file as?
State, we ended up with about a $600 refund, but federally we owed over $5000.
We both make about the same income, if that means anything.
Thanks!
EDIT: I figured it out. He’s not telling us to file single, he was telling us to change our W4 to Single/MFS to get more withholdings. My apologies.
Account said to file single, but we're married — increase deductions instead?
byu/English_American intax
Posted by English_American
6 Comments
Most people mark MFJ on their W-4 and nothing else. This one works mathematically if one spouse is working. If both spouses are working, not so much, since you are effectively both applying the same standard deduction and tax rates to your income without accounting for the other income.
Generally just mark the check box for having two incomes on both W-4’s, or use the Multiple Income Worksheet to get a more accurate withholding.
Yea, I absolutely would not file your tax return as anything other than MFJ or MFS if you were legally married end of the tax year. There as some situations (rarely) where MFS works out better, particularly if you and your spouse do not reside together.
That being said, was the accountant saying to mark “Single” on your W-4 instead of Married. That’s not fraud. That will increase your tax withholding, probably more than needed. If you and your spouse have close to the same income, the more that will work out.
The W-4 is just a form employers must give to employees to fill out. Those values tell the employer which spreadsheet to use when calculating how much income tax is taken from a given paycheck.
What account are you talking about? Why would this “account” ask you to file single when it knows you are married?
Your accountant is telling you to set your W-4 to single. The form you fill out for your employer to withhold taxes.
Legally you can’t file your tax return as single.
Mfj is always better unless you have certain things like student loans. You wouldn’t want to file separate. How you fill out your W4 is different.
Did you check the box in step 2c of both w4s? If both aren’t checked, that’s why you didn’t have enough withheld.
If both were checked then you probably need to post box 1/2 values from both w2s(and if any was bonuses) and any investment income for people to figure out why you didn’t pay enough.
File MFJ- always the best.