Marital status on Pay stub showing S even after married - Problem?

Question

I am married but never bothered to send a modified W4 to my employer stating a change of marital status from S to M. So, my withholding on my paycheck is based on S (obviously). When I file my return I file it as Married filing Jointly. Now my question is, Is it fine to leave my marital status as S in my pay stub? or should I immediately change it? What are the repercussions since I should have changed it at least a year back? Thanks

Answer 1

The W-4 is so that your employer will know how much you want withheld in taxes for state and federal.

By sticking with "S" you will have more taxes withheld each payday than if you changed to "M".

There are no repercussions to claiming single on your W-4.



Except for those folks who claim more exemptions than they are entitled to claim on their return, or claim "exempt" status. Those are the folks who end up owing a large amount at the end of the year. Plus they will get a penalty for underwithholding.



Here's a link to the IRS Withholding Calculator which will help you decide what to claim on your w-4:



http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96196,00.html

Answer 2

Your filing status in your W-4 is only used to determine how much tax to withhold. If your spouse also works, you should probably leave it as Single. You could change to "Married but withhold at the higher Single rate" but it won't affect the amount of tax that is withheld. In fact, the only reason that that "status" is on Form W-4 is because too many people think that they must file a W-4 using their true marital status. However if both spouses work and file their W-4s as Married, the odds are extremely high that not enough tax will be withheld. I've seen couples left with a tax bill of over $3,000 in some cases when they both filed their W--4s as Married, and a tax bill of between $1,500 and $2,000 is very common.

Answer 3

It will only affect your withholding taxes. The IRS does not see your paycheck ot the stub.

Answer 4

You can leave it as it is - they'll just take out a little more than they would if you filed your W-4 as married. If they take out too much you'll get it back as a refund when you file