I need help from anyone who can tell me how to fill W4 form. I tried myself, and end up with net pay less than 50% of my total gross I probably entered something wrong.

I just newly moved from Thailand and start working in US in July'08 while my husband has been moved here for 1.5 years. We don't have child, married and no home mortgage. I plan to file jointly. My annual income is 74000 while my husband is 109200. Below is what I entered in W4 form.

1. At Personal Allowances Worksheet, the number of examption I can claim on my tax return is '1'. Is this correct?

2. Do I have to fill in page 2 'Two-Earners/Multiple Jobs Worksheet'? I believed so. I filled line 1 = 1, line 2 = 11, skip line 3 and filled line 4 =11, line 5 = 1, line 6 = 9, line 7 = 880, line 8 = 8800, line 9 = 677 (since I just started my working in US in July 1 with biweekly pay) Can someone tell me whether it's correct?

3. What should my husband fill in W4 form? Is it exactly the same as mine? If above filling is correct, it means I and my husband will have additional 677 withhold from my and my husband paycheck or total 1354 per paycheck. I think my understanding may be wrong since my income is lower than my husband, but how come I pay the same tax as my husband.

I know it's too much, but we don't have any relative here and we cannot ask our friends too since no one wanted to answer. If you have no answer for my case, at least recommend me the book explain about how to fill in W4 form for alien like me. Thank you so much.

MukatA

You just have to give bottom portion of page 1 of W4 to your employer.
You should claim 1 allowance and married status.
Your spouse should claim 0 or 1 allowance and married status.
Read: Your U.S. Tax Return: Filing W4 Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate

AtlantaTaxExpert

Since you are BOTH working, the first dollar of YOUR income is being taxed at the rate of the LAST dollar of your husband's income.

That being the case, he should claim "1" exemption filing Married, and YOU should claim "0" exemptions filing Married. That wll prbably result in enough taxes being withheld to cover your joint tax liability.

jewlek

Hello MukatA and Atlanta,
Thank you for your help, but I have no idea what you are talking about. Please bear with me since I know nothing about Tax in US.
Let me confirm my understanding again.

1. I don't have to fill anything at Personal Allowances Worksheet. Is it correct?
2. I and my husband don't have to fill anything on page 2 as well. Is it correct?
3. I have to fill in only the bottom part of page 1 as below.
- Fill in name, SSN, Address, Status = Married
- Line 5 = 0 (my husband = 1)
- Line 6, 7 = blank
- Add my signature and date, then send it to my employer

lawanwadee

I would recommend using tax service for the fresh start. This is delicate issue and you don't want to mess with IRS.

MukatA

1. Yes. It is for your own calculations.
2. Yes. It is for your own calculations.
3. Yes, you send only the botton portion. About info on various lines, sorry I do not have Form W4 handy.

jewlek

Hello MukatA and others,
Thank you so much for your help, especially someone like me...who doesn't know much about US Tax.....