Not Enough Witholding?

[jokkun]

My husband and I always file joint returns and have always had a refund. We both put married joint on our W4s and claim zero dependents, I double checked both W4s to make sure. When I import my W2, TT estimates a return of $1006. I made roughly $45k, and had roughly $3k in withholding. When I import my husband's W2, suddenly we owe $2200 instead of a refund. He made roughly $32k, but his W2 says only $500 was withheld?! This has never happened before and he's been with the same company for three years, no changes to his W4 at all.

I mean clearly I'm assuming the issue was not enough was withheld from his checks throughout the year, but I don't understand why or how. Like I said W4 states married joint, zero dependents, zero additional amounts withheld. Does anybody have an idea as to what happened?! I should've looked at his paystubs throughout the year (he doesn't pay much attention to them, or at least not these parts of them). That's on me. I just don't get why more wasn't withheld.

[AamilD]

As you stated , since less taxes were withheld from your husband's paychecks, you are now being shown that you owe taxes. It would be a good idea to check the paystubs regularly so see how much is being withheld since most pay stubs not only show how much was withheld from that paycheck but it also shows how much has been withheld for the year.

Each company may have their own rules but it is possible that since the HR Department does not have a full picture of how much the total combined incomes would have been, they may have assumed that the total combined income would have been $32,000 and based on that they felt $500 was enough from a withholding perspective. 

It would be a good idea to discuss this with the payroll department to be sure enough is being withheld.