My wife and I went to a tax return preparation agency to do our 2022 taxes. This was the first time we were married for a full tax year. We're in the USA. We owed a very large amount, and the tax agent gave us advice that I'm not confident in: Change our W4s to withhold as single.
I found that there used to be an option "married, but want to withhold at the higher single rate", but it has been removed in recent updates to the W4 form (see here for example).
I struggle to find anything online -- written since the W4 update -- indicating that putting single withholding on the W4 and filing married-jointly is a good idea. The only thing I found is the section "Can I withhold as single if I'm married", on Investopedia, but this specifically uses language implying single withholding and single filing.
Looking at the W4, I would feel more comfortable writing "Married" on the W4 and using the calculator to estimate the withholding and write it in on the form (more accurately this time).
So, is our agent right that it's fine to do write "single" on the W4 and file jointly? At a minimum, I'm just wondering if it's allowed; any thoughts on whether it's a good idea are welcome.