Question

Forgot To Update W4, Now Owing Taxes

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
February 4, 2023
1 reply
0 views

I got married in 2020 and had failed to realize I needed to update my W-4 from single to married (however my spouse did).

This year, it is showing that I owe state and federal taxes, which hasn't happened in the past. Could this be caused by me failing to update my W-4? And additionally, since I have now updated it to "Married Filing Jointly", is that a better chance that I won't owe next year, since both my spouse and I will have the correct W-4 updates?

Side notes: we did make about 18k more this year, which I am sure impacts it as well, but I'm just wondering if owing could have been avoided had I updated my W-4 last year.

Not A Product Question

rjs

Employee

Yes, you could have avoided owing tax if you had updated your W-4 to take into consideration that you were married, filing jointly, that your spouse also had income, and that your income was higher.

Use the Tax Withholding Estimator on the IRS web site to figure out what you and your spouse should each put on your W-4 forms. Do this now to make sure you are in good shape for this year, even though you recently updated your W-4. Changing the filing status might not be all that's needed.