as self-employed, he owes about 15% as self-employment taxes on his income in addition to the regular income taxes. As self-employed he has no withholding to cover his share of the taxes. Thus, his taxes come out of your withholding reducing or eliminating any refund.
Depending on your point of view you could estimate what his taxes are by preparing a joint retuen and only entering his tax info and then seeing what the taxes are and then entering your income to see what your taxes are by the difference. One could also argue to do it the other way around. Enter your income first and then his.
another method would be to do a joint return and then allocate regular income taxes in proportion to each spouse's taxable income. Then add his self-employment taxes to his regular income taxes
There is no right answer to this. It depends on family dynamics. Getting a refund means you made an interest free loan to the government for a portion of the year, Owing isn't the worst thing if money is available, without have to borrow to pay the bill. Online might not be practical since you have to pay to see results at least the first prepared return. The desktop versions could do as many returns as you like for just one fee, but you need a full pc or Mac with a 64 bit operating system
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