Hello.
My wife and I filed married filing jointly this year. I entered in my W2’s and was told I would get a refund of $2000. When I ensure in my wife’s W2 from this year, it says she owed $2000 and I also put in the W2 from last year and the $2000 jumped to $8000. My wife finally realized her employer never put in a W4 for her once they switch payroll companies. Will she end up owing the $8000 even if she didn’t make a mistake with the W4? Will the payroll company offer to pay for their mistake? Will we need to fight this?
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@ NMc3 wrote:Hello.
My wife and I filed married filing jointly this year. I entered in my W2’s and was told I would get a refund of $2000. When I ensure in my wife’s W2 from this year, it says she owed $2000 and I also put in the W2 from last year and the $2000 jumped to $8000. My wife finally realized her employer never put in a W4 for her once they switch payroll companies. Will she end up owing the $8000 even if she didn’t make a mistake with the W4? Will the payroll company offer to pay for their mistake? Will we need to fight this?
"When I ensure (sic) in my wife’s W2 from this year, it says she owed $2000 and I also put in the W2 from last year "
First, please clarify something, then someone should be able to help you. "this year" and "last year"... Did you mistakenly enter a 2023 W-2 and a 2024 W-2 both on a current 2024 return?
She will have to pay the tax owed even if the W-4 was not completed properly. That is because it is always the taxpayer's responsibility to pay their tax obligation, even if someone else was negligent in withholding taxes. It is doubtful the payroll company will pay her tax liability. You do not have any legal grounds for requiring someone else to pay your tax liability since you would have had to pay it anyways if the mistake had not been made, you just would have made the payments as withholdings instead of when the tax return was filed.
Wait a minute----back up to the part about entering wife's W-2 for "this year" and then entering wife's W-2 for "last year"-----do you mean you included a 2023 W-2 on a 2024 tax return?
You cannot combine income from two different years on the same tax return. If you put a 2023 W-2 on your 2024 return, delete it. That can only be entered on a 2023 tax return. Did you file a 2023 return and forget to enter it then? If so, you have to amend the 2023 return and put in in for 2023.
You put in a W2 from last year? You mean for 2023? You can’t do that. Only 2024 W2s go on a 2024 return. You have to do each year separately.
Nothing you can do about the wrong withholding now except give the employer a new W4 going forward. You just pay any tax due on your return. You may have a penalty if you owe too much.
On a Joint return it’s not yours or her refund or tax due. It’s both of you together. Because we have a progressive tax system. The more total income you make you pay a higher percent for tax.
You only get one refund or tax due for all your income combined. The Refund Monitors won't be right until you have entered all your income. So don't look at it until you are done.
That's common. It just looks that way because you put them in as separate W2s and saw the tax due change in between them. If it all was on one W2 you would get the same answer. And each job was withholding like it was your only job.
Because you only get one standard deduction 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.
Yes I did.
So---you e-filed? Hopefully it will be rejected. When it rejects you can delete the 2023 W-2 and just leave 2024 income on there. Then re-file it with only 2024 W-2's on the return.
For that 2023 W-2-----if you filed a 2023 return last year, it must be amended to include that 2023 W-2.
See this TurboTax support FAQ for amending a tax return - https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-return/amend-change-correct-return-a...
Do not expect quick results from amending. It can take four months or more for the IRS to process an amended return.
You can watch for information here:
https://www.irs.gov/Filing/Individuals/Amended-Returns-(Form-1040-X)/Wheres-My-Amended-Return-1
If you need to Amend your 2023 return to add your wife's W-2 (that was not included), here's the steps on How to Amend a Prior Year Return. Be sure to save a copy of the originally filed return. It can take up to 16 weeks to process an Amended Return, so be patient.
If you already Efiled your 2024 return (with the 2023 W-2 included), wait until it is Accepted or Rejected by the IRS. If Accepted, you can then Amend your 2024 return to delete the incorrect W-2. Again, be sure to save a copy of the originally filed return.
If it is Rejected, then open your return and remove the incorrect W-2 and Efile again.
If you believe your wife's Employer is not withholding enough tax from her pay, here's some info on Form W-4 to help.
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