CookieAdventure t1_jecf88v wrote on March 31, 2023 at 12:08 AM

Note: Turns out OP is married and spouse earns income but this wasn’t reflected in their W4s.

contessamiau OP t1_jecmtrb wrote on March 31, 2023 at 1:05 AM

I am glad someone pointed out that this needed to be reflected.

“Married filing jointly” to me intuitively implies that I am married and the person I’m filing with also has taxes to file. If i were the only one working, then I’d be “head of household”, right?

We’ve been filing married filing jointly for years and this is the first year when we owe back taxes.

So I’m still confused.

CookieAdventure t1_jecyotd wrote on March 31, 2023 at 2:38 AM

Head of household filers are single parents.

On your new W4, you have to tell your employer about your other sources of household income. In your case, that’s your spouse’s job.