Spanish Turtle

I’ve been searching for some cuff links to wear with my nice new suit for a while now, and I finally found some. I wanted cuff links that looked good, and I didn’t mind spending a little money, so I thought these Suzanne Felsen Cuff Links were perfect.

I ended up buying some silver ones with a blue stone set in them. I figure they’ll look really good with any shirt color I end up with, and they match my gray jacket. Check out that link if you’re looking for a pair.

After recently getting married I filed a new Federal W-4 and State W-4, changing my status to Married. I took one allowance (for myself); the same number I had before getting married. I had run the numbers, and knew that the taxes that my wife and I pay shouldn’t change by more than 1%.

But, after submitting my updated W-4s, I found that the taxes withheld from my paycheck dropped substantially after marriage. On my paycheck and my wife’s, our taxes withheld dropped by a couple hundred dollars per month! Each! Alas, I realized right away that this had to be a mistake.

I re-ran the numbers, and used this paycheck calculator to verify. I came up with the same thing – we should save a few bucks a month, but nothing close to the reduction we actually saw on our paychecks. If we left things that way, we would have owed over $6,000 at the end of the year. We’re submitting new W-4 forms this week that change our status to ‘Married, but withhold at higher single rate.’

It appears that both of our employers simply ran our taxes against the married tax brackets, assuming that our spouse made $0. I understand that they don’t know my spouse’s income, but I can see how this assumption could catch some couples by surprise come the end of the year. I had a really hard time finding answers to this issue online, so I’m hoping this post may help some people out.

If you’re in a similar boat, just take the time to figure out what your state and federal taxes should be for the year, and make sure the taxes withheld from your checks is what you want it to be.

I just learned that, and it blew my mind.