How Do I Deal With This?

[danaf]

I got married a number of months ago. I finally got around to changing my W-4 form to show this and it increased what I get every month by almost $200.

I don't know if this is going to hurt me because before I had less than $100 disposable income after paying everything. I could be missing expenses somewhere, I'd have to re-work the numbers. I just fall under the median for a family of 2 with my salary.

Should I be concerned about this? Should I change back my W-4?

[DivorceRuinedMe]

Are you close to the median income? If you are not, then change it back. That way you are not getting hurt by it each month in terms of having more disposable income (although THEN you will get a larger tax return that the trustee may want to take). Hmmm.....maybe a better strategy is to find more expenses to bring down your disposable like you originally stated.

[millerc507]

Correct me if I am wrong, please. . . It really should not matter how many exemptions you are claiming as the median income is determined using gross (before tax) income rather than net (after tax) dollars.

[demismom]

miller - I think they're talking about comparing Schedules I & J. If she has more disposable income - then yeah, that's a problem.

[lrprn]

I just fall under the median for a family of 2 with my salary. Should I be concerned about this? Should I change back my W-4?

Yes, if you are planning to file bk soon, change your withholdings right now so that you won't get back so much every month. Here's the IRS publication that helps you figure out how to do that - http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p919.pdf . This should help keep your income for the Schedules where it should be to stay under the median income for your state when you file.

Check your withholdings a couple more times through the rest of the year to ensure you aren't under or overdoing it. The goal is to not use Uncle Sam as a savings account - he gets to use your money for free, gives you no interest, and keeps you from having that hard-earned money yourself when you need it throughout the year. Hope this helps!