How much of an issue is this going to be? (taxes)

[Deleted]

This might be a MM thing, but they scare me over there. 

H just got his W2 from his employer and the idiot (the boss, not H) never changed his tax status from single to married even though H asked him about 10 times. FWIW, I changed mine to married when I got this job that I'm at now. 

Is this going to mess our taxes up if we're filing jointly? 

[mrssavy42112]

It just changes your withholding. If I'm not mistaken, being married lowers your tax rate, so he may end up with a larger refund. Of course, there are lots of other variables.

[JayhawkGirl]

We purposely stayed at single 0 on our taxes so they would withhold more, as we were owing each year.

You should be okay, just likely to either owe less or get a bigger refund.

[EmilieMadison]

Yes, it will could have an effect on your taxes, although most people find that it's more beneficial to claim married but continue to withhold at the single rate. Often, when people get married and change it to married, they are unpleasantly surprised to find that not enough taxes were withheld and they end up owing.
As for what he asked the boss to do, did he actually fill out the form, or did he just "ask" his boss to change it?

[candreco]

Like pp's have said, it just affects your witholding, not how you can actually file. We also both still have ours set up as single, no dependents, and between that and mortgage interest, we always get a nice refund.

[open24hours]

Generally, you don't get in trouble if what you claim on your W-2 does not match how you file. Plenty of married people purposefully keep their W-2 withholdings as single for a variety of reasons. What you claim on your W-2 just tells your employer how much to withhold from your paycheck so that come tax time, you would come out even (neither owe, nor get a refund). The single withholding takes out more money than the married withholding does, so when you file you will either get a bigger refund, or owe less than you would if it changed.

[Deleted]

Jan 21, 2013 15:56:08 GMT -5 EmilieMadison said:

Yes, it will could have an effect on your taxes, although most people find that it's more beneficial to claim married but continue to withhold at the single rate. Often, when people get married and change it to married, they are unpleasantly surprised to find that not enough taxes were withheld and they end up owing.
As for what he asked the boss to do, did he actually fill out the form, or did he just "ask" his boss to change it?

That makes sense. I think. I am completely clueless when it comes to taxes. 

Apparently H didn't fill out the form like he should have. So it is H that is the idiot. Not his boss.   

[Deleted]

We both have our taxes withheld as single so they will keep more money out and we won't owe at tax time. It isn't a big deal.

[Deleted]

Ok. Phew. So we're not completely screwed. Thanks guys!

[2boys2danes]

You should be ok... I've been married for 12 years and still have mine withheld at single zero