Multiple employers and a retirement income

[alrobin12]

My husband is retired and is collecting an Arizona state retirement check each month. I work full time and he has gone back to work full time. So we have three incomes. I'm having an issue with my W4. I don't think they're withholding enough so I'm not sure I filled it out correctly. What should I be withholding? Aa an example my most recent 80 hour check was $1397 Gross and only $7.38 was withheld for federal. The form is confusing when there are multiple incomes.

[KusyJ]

You have a couple of items to consider when completing the W4. You have multiple jobs and pension income. Since you do not mention self-employment, Step 2(a) of the W4 does not apply to you. For your full-time income, you may use Step 2(b) or Step 2(c) for withholding calculations for your employer. 

If you have one job each that pays relatively the same amount, you can check the box in Step 2(c) and submit the W4s to each employer.

If you and your spouse have multiple jobs or one job pays more than half of the other job, fill out the worksheet for Step 2(b) for only one of the W4s. Enter the results for that Step 2(b) worksheet on Line 4(c).

For either choice in Step 2, be sure to complete Step 3 for only one W4s you complete for your employer If you have dependents.

You can submit an Arizona Form A-4P to start withholdings from your husband’s pension income. The Form AZ-4P offers numerous choices for percentage of pension income to be withheld. Arizona has a flat tax rate of 2.5%, but you can opt to have a higher percentage withheld. You submit the Form AZ-4P to the payor of your pension or the administrator of the pension fund. Do not send the form to the Arizona Department of Revenue. You can access the From AZ-4P here: https://www.psprs.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Arizona_Form_2025_A-4P.pdf

[alrobin12]

Thank you for your response. The issue is I just completed the form in our online payroll system and it doesn't tell me how much it's going to withhold. I would like to see that before I submit the form. I did this once before and figured I would just say withhold extra and it it withheld $195 from my check which was shocking. Is there a way to do this calculation simply so I can see how much will be withheld before I submit the form?

[KusyJ]

For your Federal return, the IRS provides a Tax Withholding Estimator. This link provides interview questions based upon your actual numbers to most closely estimate your current situation: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/tax-withholding-estimator 

You will need your latest pay stubs for both jobs and documents required to estimate pension payments. On the second page, be sure to enter that you have three income sources to account for both jobs and the pension in the calculation.   

The IRS tool should provide an estimate based upon your current situation. It also allows changes in withholding to achieve a more desired result. Remember, the estimator is only as accurate as the information inputted.

TurboTax also has a calculator to assist in your estimates: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calculators/w4/