View Full Version : W-4 allowances.wife working in another state
 
 dancepodium
Jul 13, 2008, 08:46 AM
I work in IL, my wife works in MI. How do we find our allowances on Fed W-4 and State W-4s? 
As per IRS advice, we claim all allowances on higher income W-4 and none on the other one. But since our states are different, how do we mention our allowances there?
 MukatA
Jul 13, 2008, 07:59 PM
The purpose of W4 is to guide your employer how much tax they should withhold from your pay check. 
You can divide the allowances. You can always submit a new W4 if you want to change the allowances.
Read: Your U.S. Tax Return: Filing W4 Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate (http://taxipay.blogspot.com/2008/02/filing-w4-employees-withholding.html)
 dancepodium
Jul 13, 2008, 09:33 PM
The purpose of W4 is to guide your employer how much tax they should withhold from your pay check. 
You can divide the allowances. You can always submit a new W4 if you want to change the allowances.
Read: Your U.S. Tax Return: Filing W4 Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate (http://taxipay.blogspot.com/2008/02/filing-w4-employees-withholding.html)
 
Thank You MukatA. Here are my specific questions
 
1) My total allowances come out to be 2 [Entering '1' for myself and '1' for 'married'. If I enter '2'. Could my wife enter '1' allowance for herself or should it be '0'].
 
2) Should we both fill the double income sheet [counting factors for highest and lowest income] to report additional withholding per month?
 
Thanks for your help
 AtlantaTaxExpert
Jul 14, 2008, 08:34 AM
Because your wife's income starting tax is equal to your marginal tax rate, you should claim '1' exemption on your W-4 and ZERO on her W-4 to ensure enough money is withheld to cover your tax liability on your joint income.