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Question

How to estimate witholding

Forum|Forum|27 days ago
May 13, 2026
1 reply
0 views

My wife and I file jointly. When I look at my taxes alone or hers alone, we are each witholding enough. When we combine our incomes when filing, it turns out we are not actually witholding enough. Is there a formula or method for estimating what the proper amount will be for our combined income?

Ask the Experts - W4 - May 2026

Employee Tax Expert

Employee Tax Expert

When both spouses have W-2 income, it is common for withholding to be insufficient because each employer's payroll system treats that job as your only source of income. Consequently, each employer applies a higher deduction amount than is appropriate for your combined household income.

To address this and increase your withholding, you can indicate on your W-4 that your spouse also works. However, if one spouse earns significantly more than the other, simply using the checkbox method may still result in inaccuracies.

For a more precise approach, you can calculate a specific extra dollar amount to withhold each pay period using these steps:

Determine your tax shortfall using your 2025 return (if already filed) or a tax calculator.

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calculators/taxcaster/

Divide that shortfall by the number of pay periods remaining in the year.
Enter this amount on your W-4 for additional withholding.

The IRS also offers an excellent tool called the Tax Withholding Estimator to help with these calculations:

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/tax-withholding-estimator

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