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posted Jun 6, 2019 9:13:42 AM

W-4 Two-Earners/Multiple Jobs Worksheet: Do I apply additional withholding to both of our W-4s or just one?

I recently got married and my spouse and I are updating our W-4s to reflect this. Since we both work, we completed the Two-Earners/Multiple Jobs Worksheet and ended up needing to request additional withholding, but the number on line 8 was the same for both of us (we get paid at different intervals though, so our line 9 was slightly different).

Do we need to request this on both of our W-4s, or just one?

Since this worksheet already takes both of our incomes into account it seems like requesting additional withholding on both W-4s would be double-counting, but the form isn't very clear on this point.

Is it possible that we should simply split the amount from line 8 between the two of us?

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1 Replies
Level 3
Jun 6, 2019 9:13:44 AM

If you are doing this in TurboTax you should come to a screen that looks like the attached screenshot that will tell you which way to do it.  

If you plan on filing in the future as Married Filing Joint, then it will not really matter if you split the amount or if one person pays more and one person pays less.  However, if you will ever file as Married Filing Separate then you will want to be sure each of you are having enough withheld to cover your individual tax liability.