Is there a legal way to get Zero federal tax withholding?
MFJ. I'm higher earner 1099. Spouse is W2. I'd like to get my spouse's federal withholding down to 0. Is this possible without doing something illegal like lying on the W4?
The reason is because as a contractor I will be doing quarterly estimated payments, and the simplest way to ensure hitting a safe harbor is to just have my four payments total 110% of last year's taxes. Voila, easy-peasy. But if, on top of that, my spouse has any withholdings too, that's an interest-free loan to Uncle Sam I'm not thrilled about, and negatively impacts cash flow through the year. I could try to figure out what they're doing for spouse's withholding and adjust my quarterly payments accordingly, but that's more complicated, spouse's withholding will likely change a couple times with annual raise and health plan update, etc.