So, we're getting married this year, and in preparation I wanted to fix up our W4s, especially since our state (NJ) has a modest marriage penalty in the tax brackets, so I don't want to end up coming up too short.

Since you're either married for the whole year, we're basically already married in the eyes of tax law.

So I filled out the NJ W4 for the right new selections and took mine and gave my fiance hers. My fiance went to her HR office today, but they told her since she's not married, they can't change her tax status to married. Huh? Really? Its just withholding amounts.

I know alternately I could 'get around it' by filing out the W4 and withholding a few bucks extra, but then that's silly because we'll have to (or at least they'll probably want her to) redo it again later.

As far as I'm aware, the W4 just reflects your withholding rate and the government doesn't care what it says as long as they get their money in the end. Besides, all the change does is *increase* our withholding.

So, am I wrong? Or are they? And if they're wrong, is there any IRS site I could print out for her to bring with them to say "see, the IRS says this is okay!" (I guess a NJ site would be ideal since its the NJ W4, but IRS should certainly suffice).

Thanks,

Fred