My wife worked in 2016. She brought in ~20k. My impression was that if we both paid taxes that her working would increase our return... but alas, a terrible decrease!

[jasonthomasblack]

Did we jump into a higher bracket??? How can MY return drop over 1k when taxes were taken from her paycheck. Shouldn't we at least get the return that I received last year?

[SweetieJean · Accepted solution]

No. Taxes are based on your total Joint income, not each of you separately.

[VolvoGirl]

Usually it's the other way around.  That's common.  More income = more tax and usually less refund.  

Because you only get one standard deduction and personal exemption (or 2 for Joint), no matter how many W2s you put in. Turbo Tax starts out by giving you the Standard Deduction.  You entered more income when you entered the second W2 but you didn't enter more deductions.  And each job only withheld taxes like it was your only job for the year.  You might want to adjust your withholding.  Also as you add more income you might not be getting as many credits as before like the EIC credit.  And it was probably giving you the EIC credit until you went over.

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