When starting a job, you will need to complete a W4 (not a W2 - a W2 is a recap of your earnings, withholdings etc. for the prior tax year). It is important to indicate to both your and your wife's payroll systems the combined income or you run the risk of being under withheld on your taxes (read this as you will owe taxes when you file). This means your wife will need to redo her W4. If you do not tell payroll of the other income, then each payroll system will look at your respective income as the only income earned by the family. What would happen in your payroll is that the system will look at your income, filing status etc. as the only income and apply deductions to your income before calculating taxes owed. Independently, your spouse's payroll will do the same. This may result in being taxed at a lower tax rate than your combined incomes' actual rate, as well as potentially having too much in deductions applied before taxes are calculated. You are able to update W4's throughout the year.
For example:
Income from Employer #1 = $60K
Income from Employer #2 = $40K
When completing the W4 for Employer #1, you want to indicate in the "Step 2: Multiple Jobs or Spouse Works" section that there is an additional $40K being earned through Employer #2.
When completing the W4 for Employer #2, you want to indicate in the "Step 2: Multiple Jobs or Spouse Works" section that there is an additional $60K being earned through Employer #1.
This will annualize your income in the payroll systems to the $100K you expect to earn in a year, rather than the two payroll systems looking at your incomes separately at $60K MFJ and $40K MFJ.
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