I had a windfall at work last year and hired my husband to do admin work (money places us in the highest tax bracket - not sure if that’s relevant). I paid estimated taxes at the end of the year, which accounted for both my estimated taxes (through my self employment) combined with estimated taxes/SS/Medicare for my husband.

I purposely overpaid just to be safe. I am running the numbers now, and I receive a few grand more in the refund when putting in my husband’s W-2 wages, rather than just counting the full amount as my self-employment income.

I’m concerned I did something wrong, because all the tax blogs seem to say you won’t pay less in taxes if you make a spouse an employee (and could end up paying more). Is it possible that my tax liability is a few grand less when paying my husband as an employee, rather than just paying the full self employment tax on my income for the year?