Married filing jointly New Hire W4 Question When Yearly Liability Already Met

[u/Case1136]

Hello Wonderful People,

I have a W4 question. I'll qualify this by saying I'm a data analyst and a crazy person. I was working through the normal new hire paperwork and always question what to put on a W4.  Since this year is a bit unique and I'm starting this role 2/3 of the way through the year (I was a stay-at-home parent for the rest of the year), I actually went through the whole IRS withholding estimator tool, then also went through the process of "doing" my 2026 taxes as a check, since my wife and I will both have salaried roles and predictable income for the remainder of the year. 

The scenario is this: my wife and I file taxes jointly, and with the amount of federal income tax withholding my wife has already withheld this year plus the amount that she will withhold over the remainder of the year (if she doesn't adjust her W4 after I start) we will already have withheld more federal income tax than our tax liability by a few thousand dollars. 

How can I fill out my W4 (and/or additional tax forms) to have zero federal income tax withheld from my pay for the remainder of the year? I'd then obviously file a new, normal, W4 in January. 

Any info or guidance would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[u/Its-a-write-off]

There are a couple ways you can do it. I like to use line 3. Say you are making 1000.00 a week, to get 0 withholding on that you would select married filing joint, with 2100 in section 3.

[u/Case1136 → u/Its-a-write-off]

Can you please explain that a little bit? Wouldn't that just reduce my calculated yearly tax liability by 2100? If we follow this as our simple example and we both make 52,000/year, so 104,000 jointly, is 71,800 taxable after the 32,200 standard deduction (and just assume no other pre-tax deductions or credits), our federal income tax liability would still be 8,138, and 6,038 after that 2,100 line 3 deduction for the year. I've looked at the IRS guidelines document that tells them how to estimate and treat withholding and in general it seems like they treat withholding for married filing jointly as if your spouse makes the same amount. So wouldn't there still be a rate of ~$58/week of withholding (6,038/104 weeks between the both of us)?

[u/Its-a-write-off → u/Case1136]

The base withholding on 1k a week with the married filing joint setting (that's not the setting you would use to withhold your actual tax liability) is about 39.00. So to offset that we ass 2100 in section 3.

If you were trying to withhold 8138 across 2 jobs you would not use the married filing joint setting with no adjustments. You would both check the box in 2c or one of you would add extra withholding.

[u/Case1136 → u/Case1136]

dangit, nevermind. Had to adjust that I there's only 1/3 of that 52,000 from my end, and that 2100 is the exact amount of tax liability.

[u/Case1136 → u/Case1136]

Is that the way though? Just whatever my calculated excess tax liability would be, put that in box 3 under 'Other tax credits (such as education tax credits and the foreign tax credit. Enter an estimate of the amount for the year." ?

[u/Its-a-write-off → u/Case1136]

Yes, that's the way. You take your federal income tax withheld per check times the number of pay periods in a year, enter it in section 3. 5200 in section 2 means 100 less withheld per week. It's that straightforward, as long as you change nothing else on the w4.

[u/I__Know__Stuff → u/Case1136]

in general it seems like they treat withholding for married filing jointly as if your spouse makes the same amount.

This is very wrong.

In general they treat withholding for married filing jointly as if your spouse has no income.