How can we be married filing jointly, each claiming zero with 2 kids owe money?

2 kids, each requesting the most to be deducted from our paycheck yet we owed more this year than ever before.

posted

That is not uncommon, especially for two earner families with better than average incomes. The withholding tables don't withhold enough. You can minimize that by filing a new W-4 with your employer, claim 0 (as you are doing), and choose "married but withhold at the higher single rate". If that doesn't solve it, there is a place on the W-4 to ask your employer to withhold an additional cash amount each pay period. As you children get older, the problem gets worse. You loose the Child and Dependent Care credit when a child turns 13, and you loose the Child Tax Credit when a child turns 17.