Married vs mulitple jobs

[ILLMAS]

I cannot wrap my head around this, but if I remember correctly, people who had multiple jobs had to adjust their withholdings so they won't owe at the end of the year, but how about a married couple, one with each job, zero exemptions and they owe money WTH?  I understand the tax tables were released until late February 2018, but if they had zero exemptions for January and February, what is the factor I need to take into consideration to justify why the owe? 

Thanks

 

[Lee B]

I have seen this exact problem multiple time over the years, especially when  spouse 1 earns significantly more than spouse 2.

The only solution is for spouse 1 to claim married "withholding at the higher single rate." either S -1 or even S - 0 in a few cases.

[Medlin Software, Dennis]

Withholding calculations versus liability are at their worst (that I can remember) based on the manipulation by the current administration (to say they boosted take home pay).

Even though I do not directly deal with employees, I suggest my customers give employees notices about checking their withholding early in the year, and again at the end of Q3.  From the perspective of my customer, the idea is to reduce the number of employees who blame their employer for under withholding.  The IRS has provides documents employers can post/hand out, including the recent "whoops, we screwed up and will not charge interest on certain under withholding situations".

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Yes indeedy thank you, I have lost customers this year based on this very issue.  The complaint is the calculations I built in to my payroll software did not withhold enough.  Of course, I use the official IRS instructions, but they still think it must be my fault their employees owe money.  Self responsibility, like what used to be common sense, is no longer the norm.

[Pacun]

I used to blame the employer or the payroll software when I saw that a single person with "single 0" owed money. Every year was the same situation.  About 8 years later, she left her job and at the end of the year she got a huge bonus. That bonus was paid around Dec 29th and they withheld a HUGE amount for federal AND it was paid on a W-2 for the following year. When I saw that W-2 I told her... "after 8 years of trying to get your employer withhold enough, they did it on this bonus". She reply, it was a bad calculation on my part, I always have 5 dependents on my W-4, but on December 15, I change to Single 0. I do that every year and I change it back on January 2nd, and I put back my 5 exemptions. I thought they were going to give the bonus in January but since I quit, they paid me in December and I didn't have time to change my w-4. 

Be cold and tell them, "you OWE and there is nothing we can do". If they walk away, let them walk.

Remember having a W-2 that reads "single 0" means nothing. I don't read that anymore, I only read the numbers in box 1, 2, 17, etc.

[Pacun]

We have a chat a work, and an employee is complaining that the employer withheld 0. She wants to talk to someone in HR, and any other department. I asked her when she started working for the company and she said Mar 3rd last year. I said "you had AT LEAST 18 chances to correct the situation when the pay check stubs were posted on line. Stop crying and pay the money". 

I am pretty sure HR cannot tell her that but they might be really happy I did... I MIGHT BE PROMOTED.

[joanmcq]

I blame the tax law and those who passed it, especially the f-up with the withholding tables.  Haven't had a client complain yet.

But I also did projections for everyone last year, with the caveat 'if your withholding is the same as last year'.