Help with W4 please

[C & A 0]

I am a married alien with an EAD waiting for my green card (no kids). I earn $34,000/annum and my US spouse earns $56,000/annum.

What should I put for Q3 on W-4 (married or married, but withhold at higher Single rate)?

And what should I put for Q5 on W-4 (Total number of allowances you are claiming?)

Thank you.

Edited March 4, 2015 by C & A

[Pitaya 2,577]

You should likely discuss this with your spouse, in conjunction with the calculations on the form, as it pertains to your particular personal family tax withholding plan.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf

Edited March 4, 2015 by A&B

[C & A 0]

We're still completely confused.

What do most married couples do in our similar financial situation?

We are not doing the itemized deduction and I would prefer more money in my pay checks now then receiving a bigger return at the end of the year (we need the cash now and I enjoy saving).

Edited March 4, 2015 by C & A

[Cloudy9 11]

The W4 while being a federal document is only used by your employer so that they take out the amount of taxes that you want. Its not filed with the IRS or anything like that. You can file as Married and zero which will take out the most allowable taxes for that married group. Lots of people file this way so that at the end of the year they will get more back in taxes. I file this way and my husband files as Married but withholding at a higher rate. This way we get back money instead of owing. I work in payroll and I tell people who ask me how to file that you can go to a tax preparer if you want, tell them your rate of pay and hrs worked and they can tell you how best to file the W4.

You can also change it more than once a year if you want. I have nurses that will change their W4 to Married and 9 which will withhold no taxes around Oct-Dec. This way they get more on their checks for xmas and when our bonus's come out at the end of the year they aren't taxed on it. Then Jan 2nd change back to Married and zero again. Keep this in mind, the higher the number of deductions the less taxes are taken File however you want.