We file married jointly and husband has higher income between the two. This year we owed on fed taxes (first time I can remember), but made no changes to W4 since starting our relative jobs. There was a slight increase in income for both of us, but not excessively so. All other factors carried over from prior year.
Husband W4 is Married with no additional amount withheld, and no provisions for dependents (even though we claim 3 on tax return). Wife's W4 is carried from "old" method; it is Single, 1 exemption. I'm wondering if she should change to "Married, 0".
I ran through the calculator on the IRS site, and TurboTax site. Curiously, both results were different but with the same numbers. Also not sure if the entered data is completely accurate because it asks about a bonus which we get, but technically the bonus for 2023 was PAID in 2024 with the requisite taxes taken out. That amount can vary year over year so it's not an accurate figure to add.
I'm trying to figure out what to do to 1) not owe or, 2) at least break even with zero to little return.
Thank you.
