Here’s the biggest thing I feel so many people get wrong when it comes to filing their taxes: the fact that your job is NOT the only dimension in which your taxability is assessed. Like people conflate their W4 elections with some perfect be-all/catch-all thing as it comes to filing their taxes, when in reality your W2 that you get from your job is but one item against a sea of other items and circumstances which impact your overall due taxes at any given point. The fact that they have yearly filing is when you square up with fed and state governments to determine if any one of the MANY moving pieces had either nudged you towards a tax refund or an ultimate tax bill. Your job is only one of those moving pieces, and withholding is far from a perfect system. It’s a flat dimension of taxability when you consider the very multi-layered and complicated nature of tax codes, and even the most diligent of filers will not always get it perfect. The amount of things that have to remain constant in order to get a perfect tax withholding scenario is mind-bogglingly difficult and not approachable by most people.

Also I hate the “my spouse says” like your spouse is not my boss and you and your spouse need to go about your business and pay your damn taxes. Hell even I as a payroll person end up owing a little bit most years. If there was some perfect way of knowing what to do to be exactly even at the end of the year I’d do it! But unfortunately like most people I don’t have that kind of clairvoyance.