As of now I have a nice tax refund When I input my wife’s w2 it lowers ALOT every year Shes a teacher and made around $70,000 in 2022 What can I do to keep my refund high

[xmasbaby0]

More income = more tax

WHY DID MY REFUND GO DOWN WHEN I ADDED ANOTHER W-2?

You started off with your first W-2 and your refund looked high?  Then you added another W-2 and it stopped looking so good? That is normal.  When you added more income, your tax liability increased, so you saw your refund decrease.  The program began by giving you your standard deduction—- which lowered your taxable income. So you are not being taxed on as much of the income on that first W-2.  Then you added taxable income--so the refund went down. Your refund (or tax due) is based on the total of your income, not “per W-2.”  Wait until you have entered ALL of your income and credit/deduction information.  You can't really tell anything until it is all entered.  That “refund monitor” does not mean anything until everything has been entered.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2273878-why-did-my-refund-drop-when-i-entered-another-w-2

And if you are thinking about filing separately:

If you were legally married at the end of 2022 your filing choices are married filing jointly or married filing separately.

Married Filing Jointly is usually better, even if one spouse had little or no income. When you file a joint return, you and your spouse will get the married filing jointly standard deduction of $25,900 (+$1400 for each spouse 65 or older)  You are eligible for more credits including education credits, earned income credit, child and dependent care credit, and a larger income limit to receive the child tax credit. 

If you choose to file married filing separately, both spouses have to file the same way—either you both itemize or you both use standard deduction. Your tax rate will be higher than on a joint return. Some of the special rules for filing separately include: you cannot get earned income credit, education credits, adoption credits, or deductions for student loan interest. A higher percent of your Social Security benefits may be taxable. Your limit for SALT (state and local taxes and sales tax) will be only $5000 per spouse. In many cases you will not be able to take the child and dependent care credit. The amount you can contribute to a retirement account will be affected. If you live in a community property state, you will be required to provide additional information regarding your spouse’s income. ( Community property states:  AZ, CA, ID, LA, NV, NM, TX, WA, WI)

 If  you are using online TurboTax to prepare your returns, you will need to prepare two separate returns and pay twice.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1894449-married-filing-jointly-vs-married-filing-separately

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901162-married-filing-separately-in-community-property-states

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1894449-is-it-better-for-a-married-couple-to-file-jointly-or-separ...

[rjs]

A tax refund is not a gift from the government. It's your own money that you sent to the government during the year, and they send it back to you when you file your tax return.

If you want to get a bigger refund, you and your wife can give new W-4 forms to your employers to increase the amount of federal income tax that is withheld from your pay. But if you do that you are just sending more of your own money to the IRS. They hold it all year, and send the excess back to you at the end of the year as a big refund. They don't pay you interest on the money they hold.

You can use the Tax Withholding Estimator on the IRS web site to figure out what you and your wife should each put on the W-4 forms that you give to your employers. It will show you how to adjust your withholding to get the approximate refund amount that you want.

But you'd be better off taking the money out of your pay yourself and putting it in a savings account that pays interest. At the end of the year you can give yourselves a big refund from the savings account, and you will have a little extra because you will have earned some interest.

[DawnC]

It is too late to do much of anything for this year.   However, you can complete new W-4 forms and give them to your employers which will help when you file next year.  Adjust one or both of your withholding amounts now and your employer(s) will adjust the amounts they are taking from your paychecks throughout the year.   You can change your withholdings on W-4 as often as you need to.   You can do it through the TurboTax program or you can print the form (or request one from your employer), make the changes and give it to your employer(s).

If you want to do it in the program, here are the instructions.  

This link will allow you to print the form with instructions directly from the IRS (easier).   

What is a W-4 and how do you fill it out?  

5 Reasons to Update your W-4s?