This is something that I always wanted to know. My wife works as a
1099. I file her taxes regularly every quarter. I should say that she makes in a year something between 5 to 10% of what I make. When I fill out the W4 form (allowance adjustment), should I consider her a "working spouse"?I appreciate your help.
Rick
Yes. The worksheet is able to deal with multiple earners with different salaries -- see "Two-Earners/Multiple Jobs Worksheet (See Two earners or multiple jobs on page 1.)".
The IRS only cares about the "Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate". The worksheet is for your own records, and you don't even have to use it. You can use online/offline tools or just pull numbers out of your head. I would check Married (the middle box) and
0 exemptions. But if you have a mortgage then my answer will change. You may see what you worked for you last year, and if you owed some money at the end of the year then reduce the number of exemptions or increase the extra dollar amount withheld, and similarly if you got a refund. Each exemption reduces your taxable income by about $3000.Do you really files her taxes "every quarter" as you wrote above?
I'm sure the OP makes quarterly estimated tax payments to cover the tax liability on his wife's earnings -- primarily, I would guess, the self-employment tax.
An alternative would be to adjust his own withholding to cover the additional income and the SE tax.
Katie in San Diego
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