How many exemptions should we take?

[FlorMaria]

I file married jointly. I substitute teach which often costs us more in taxes. My spouse works full time. Our AGI is about $133,280 depending on how much I work. We always owe thousands of dollars to the feds and state. We have no dependents. How many exemptions on the W4 should we take?

[Faith C · Accepted solution]

Thank you for asking. Using a W-4 calculator will be a great tool to assist you to see how to adjust your W-4 to the right amount so you do not owe tax, but also can have more take-home pay. https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calculators/w4/ and here is another Tax Withholding Estimator from IRS: https://apps.irs.gov/app/tax-withholding-estimator

Regarding your case, it sounds like you may withhold enough for your tax. You may try to reduce the number of exemption to see if that will help you to withhold enough and avoid owing tax by using the estimator. 

[Faith C · Accepted solution]

Sorry for the typo. For your case, it sounds like you may not withhold enough which trigger tax liability when you filed your tax.