Why is tax bill much higher if the 2nd W2 is in a second name. Married filing jointly- same income, same standard deduction - 1700.00 less if both W2's in the same nam

[dtwestp]

why is there a big difference in the tax bill when a second w2 is in another name? For example, I entered (2) w2's married filing jointly. If the second W2 was in the same name as the first, my tax bill was less $1700.However, because the second W2 is in my wife's name, the bill is much higher. It's the same income level and same standard deduction.

[AnthonyC · Accepted solution]

The likely cause is that you are getting an artificial refund of social security taxes.  The amount of SS taxes payable in a year is capped, so by entering both W2s under one name, you may be exceeding this cap and the program is giving you a refund of the social security taxes paid.  You could check for this by looking at Schedule 5, line 72.