Claiming Exemptions—the W-4 for Dummies

1,025 thoughts on “Claiming Exemptions—the W-4 for Dummies”

1. Hey, i would like to know who would earn more when claiming my 2 kids?. Im a stay at home mom and he works. But we are not married

2. My husband and I file married/jointly. I work part-time, a variable amount of hours. I don’t think I’ve had enough tax withheld from my paycheck for my federal taxes. Since my husband makes more money and has a regular salary, can he submit a new W-4 to have money withdrawn from his paycheck to make up the estimated amount of tax we’ll owe due to my income?

3. HEY JAN. GOT A QUESTION I JUST STARTED A I AM SINGLE HEAD OF MY HOISEHOLD WITH TWO KIDS AND I JIST STARTED A NEW JOB. WHILE FILLN OUT MY FORM IT GAVE ME TOTAL OF 5 BUT INSTEAD I PUT 3. I DON’T WANT TO MUCH TAKEN OUT OF MY PAY BUT I DON’T WANT TO LOSE MUCH AT THE END OF THE YEAR ALSO. WHAT SHOULD I HAVE CLAIMED.

4. Hi Jan,
   I want to increase my 401k contributions from 6-12% but offset that paycheck hit by upping my dependents on my W4. Is there a formula for that? I have high itemized deductions as well with charitable contributions and paying for a child in a private college

5. Hi. What would you suggest? Husband and I work both full time, married with 4 dependants. I have higher paying job but minus health care benefits he gets more gross income. What should we claim on our w4? Will we get refund?

6. Hi Jan
   I am retired but I will be working about 20 hrs a week for one month. I am single. How many exemptions should I put on my W4 and my MW 507.

7. Hi Nicole,
   You won’t get in trouble at all. The W4 is only for telling your employer how much to withhold for you. Now, if you claim 20 exemptions and have a big tax bill – the IRS won’t like that. But they like people who withhold extra – it’s like giving the government a loan.

8. Hi Pa,
   I’m guessing that you claim all 5 children on your tax return right? You just mean you don’t claim them on your W4. You know, if you and your husband are going to file separately this year, your taxes might actually be higher than before. I wouldn’t increase the exemptions on my W4 – as you could wind up owing. You should run some scenarios to see what filing separately and the effect of his new business will do to you before you make any changes.

9. Hi Shruti,
   You should claim “married but withhold at the higher single rate” with 0 exemptions. Do not fill out the multiple earners job sheet. Do not put exempt in column 7.

10. Hi Tiffany,
    Your son should file his own return, but he will file that he is a dependent of another. You will still claim him as a dependent on your return.

11. Hi Brenda,
    I would claim single with 3 exemptions. One for you, one for head of household, and one for your child. It’s possible the you could get away with more, but if you definitely want a refund, stick with 3.

12. Hi Natasha,
    The Illinois state income tax rate is 3.75%. It’s a pretty flat rate no matter what so that’s what they should be taking out of your check.

13. Hi Lucy,
    Wait – he’s only made $2,100 since the summer? He should have no federal income tax withholding. I’m guessing that they were treating him as an independent contractor and they got their hand slapped over it. I’m guessing that they now have to treat him as an employee and they had to withhold FICA – that’s the social security and medicare tax. So, that would be 7.65%. So, if he’s made $2,100 that would be $160.65. That’s probably what is going on. But I’m just guessing.

14. Hi Shae,
    6 is probably okay. Sounds like you took 1 for you, 2 for the kids, 1 for head of household, 1 for child care credit and one more for the child tax credit. So, yes, I’d say 6 would be okay.

15. Hi, Im single with 2 kids. I’M not sure what to claim on my w2 so that I can keep getting a nice refund at the end of the year. Then will I get in trouble if I was to only claim single on my w2 so I can get the most taken out, instead of claiming head of house hold like I do on my end of the year taxes? Will that mess things up for me?

16. Hi Jan,

    I have 5 kids (all under 10) and have only been claiming 2 for myself and my spouse for the last ten years. Two of my kids are in private grade school, one in PreK4 and two are at home with my mother-in-law. My husband and I have been filing taxes together for the last nine years but he is planning to file separately in the Spring for his business. I’m thinking about switching the numbers claimed on my W4 but I’m not sure what number I should claim. Any advise you provide will be beneficial. Thanks.

17. Hi Jan,

    I have recently started a part time job at a store on Oct, 22nd 2016, and need to fill out W4.
    I want to fill out W4 as married but withhold at higher single rate.
    I will not be earning more than $4000 for rest of 2016.
    I was not working Since 2012 untill Oct 2016.
    My husband works and earn more than $80000 PA .

    Do I need to fill Multiple earner’s job sheet In W4?
    Or should I fill exempt in column 7?

    Thanks

18. I only worked a couple weeks this year (disability) and won’t have much of a return to file, and dont know if im filing or not. I do have two children. My son who turned 17 on October 2, is working after school. Is he my dependant still this year? So, he should claim single zero allowances? Or should he claim single, one allowance and file on his own?

19. Hi Jan,
    I’m single, With 1 child and Head of household, this is the first time I fill out a w2 form. How do I fill it out to were I don’t have to pay at the end of the year?

20. Hello!
    So my husband has the higher paying job. We both work full time and have a child. Correct me if i’m wrong, for the federal tax withholding, he would claim married and 3 (himself, me, and our child). I would claim married but held at the single higher rate and 0. Now, for the state exemptions, we live in IL, he would claim 3 exemptions, and I would claim 0? This is where I need help.

21. My son started his first job on June of this year. We chose exempt on his W-4, which in hindsight probably wasn’t a good idea. He has had no taxes taken from his checks up to this point. His employer has now approached him to tell him that we have to change his filing status or they will be penalized. He was paid today and his entire check was put towards taxes, which resulted in him not getting a paycheck. Is this the normal course of action for his employer to take? Will this continue to happen until his taxes from the summer are paid up? He has made about $2,100 this year. Pleas advise.

22. Hello Jan,

    I am single, with two children and I’m working one job. On my w-4 I claimed 6 exemptions for federal. Is this correct?

23. Hi Jessica,
    if you’d like a little more in your paycheck and want maybe $1000 less of a refund, I’d claim one more exemption. Go with 3.

24. Hi Archana,
    moving forward, if you’re the only income earner, I would claim 4 exemptions for next year. For this year, you still have your wife’s income that will be reported on your tax return. Your best bet for your 2016 taxes is to do and use the IRS withholding calculator to get you through the rest of this year. Then for 2017, I’d adjust.

25. Hi Sterling,
    I believe that your half brother will qualify you for head of household filing status and, if he does not turn 19 before the end of the year he should also qualify you for the child tax credit. At your income, you should also qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit. I think that if you claim 5 exemptions, you’ll have not federal income tax withheld.
    But Sterling, how are you surviving on $13,350 per year and supporting both your mother and your half brother? Are you getting any help? It’s great that you’re taking care of your family, but it’s really hard to do on your income. Good luck!

26. Hi Aaron,
    I would go to your payroll department and change things right away. If you take your last pay stub and go to the IRS withholding calculator, it will give you a good idea as to how much you need to change your withholding by.

27. Hi Clay,
    So what do you think a nice refund is? You should go to the IRS withholding calculator. Then you can plan to the dollar amount that you want.

28. Hi Kim,
    I’m sorry but I can’t answer these on a daily basis, I actually have to prepare tax returns during the week.

    So now your 19 year old is going to make more than you. Well, for 2016, I’m guessing the he doesn’t since he’s just getting the job now. If your son is still in school, I’m thinking you will still be able to claim him as a dependent for 2016. If he’s not in school, then you might not be able to. I just put the link to the dependency assistant in the previous answer. I’ll put it down again: https://www.irs.gov/uac/who-can-i-claim-as-a-dependent

    The quick and dirty answer, if he’s in school – claim single zero. If he’s not in school – claim single 1.

29. Hi Kim,
    If your son is still in scho0l, you can still claim him as a dependent. If he’s already out of school, then you can’t. The IRS has a good interactive assistant to help you decide if you can claim him or not. Here’s a link: https://www.irs.gov/uac/who-can-i-claim-as-a-dependent

    If you can still claim him as a dependent, he should claim single with zero exemptions. If he’s all grown up and on his own, he should claim single with one exemption.

    If you’re still claiming him as a dependent, he’ll still file his own tax return, it’s just that he’ll claim no exemptions on his return.

30. Hi Nakieda,
    I’m thinking that in your situation you want to bring home as much in your paycheck as possible. I think your withholding sounds just fine to me.

31. Hi Jan,

    I am single, with 1 child and make 34,000 a year. I am claiming 2 exemptions but I am getting so much taken out of each check and was considering switching my number. I am not sure what is an acceptable number to move up. I do file head of household, and get a child tax credit so my refund is usually pretty big… I don’t want to drastically affect my refund but if it was 1k less that would be ok. I was thinking of 3 or 4. Could you advise? thank you so much in advance.

32. Hi Jan,

    As of now, I am the only income earner in my family. My wife worked full time until April this year and quit her job when we had our first baby. Please can you advice how many tax exemptions we can claim now.

    Thanks in advance!!

33. Hi Jan,
    I am single, living in Maryland, with two dependents, my mother age 50 and without income, and my 16 year old half-brother. Both my mother and my brother have lived with me for this entire year, and more than half of my income goes toward household cost and up keep, and I have only one job. How many exemptions can I claim on the W-4 form and should I enter “1” for single and only have one job and “1” for Head of Household? Am I able to enter “2” for the Child Tax Credit” for my half-brother? Also, my income will be less than $13,350 for the entire year of 2016. How many total exemptions should I claim? Thanks in advance Jan!

    Sterling

34. i claimed exempt on my taxes at my new job by accident. is there any way that i can change that? and i know that i cant file tax credit because im not a student or should i say meet the criteria. if i file my taxes will i owe the irs or?

35. Hello,
    I am married my spouse does not work and we have one child. We file jointly and would like a nice refund but also not too much tax withheld each paycheck. Income is less that 70k. How many allowances should I put on my w4?

36. I make less than 18000 a year I regularly claim both my 2 kids 15 and 19. My 19 year old is now employed. He will make more than I. Can I still claim him as a dependent and he still file too. If so what should he claim on he w4 or I9 form to be correct. I Don t want us to get in trouble with doing something incorrectly. He goes this morning to fill out paperwork. Please answer asap please. If I need to make changes at my job please let me know how.

37. My son has his job at 19 years of age. He has no dependants. What should he put on his w4? Or I9 form.what and how many should he claim. Can I still claim him and he file for his job too? What’s the correct way.

38. I am married with 4 children. Husband is disabled. 1 child is 21 who is disabled other children are 16, 11, 9. I claimed 6 on my w4 no federal taxes are being taken out of my pay. Will my refund from EIC be lowered because no federal is being taken out. If so what do you recommend I claim on my w4.

39. Hi Casey,
    If your husband is claiming 3 allowances, I would think that you’d want to claim zero allowances and withhold at the higher single rate. But the best way to figure it is to go to the IRS withholding calculator and run your actual numbers.

    When you say, file as single – do you mean your tax return? Married people cannot file as single, they can only file as either married, or married filing separately – which is what I think you mean. Most of the time, you’re better off filing jointly. Many of the tax programs allow you to click on a button to compare to see if filing separately is better, but usually, you’re better off filing jointly.

40. Hi me and my husband both work we normally file joint. Income over 70k. Heis allowances are 3. What should mine be? We do want a refund. Also if we filed as single would we get more?

41. Hi Mike,
    If the IRS site suggests that you reduce your exemptions, it’s probably because you over withheld so far for the year. So go ahead and change. Or, don’t and just take the refund.
    But if you make the change, because you over-withheld, then come January, re-examine your withholding and adjust again so that you don’t get caught owing for 2017.

42. Hi Skekesia,
    What a cool name! I’ve never heard that one before.
    I like it. I would say 1 for you, 1 for claiming head of household, 2 more for the kids, 3 more for claiming the child tax credit. That’s 6. If you’re paying for day care, maybe go up to 7.

43. Hi James,
    It’s September, so basically you’ll be getting paid partway through November. So – it’s probably not a bad idea to go for a little extra cash up front to help you through the holidays and tide you over until you get a new job. Is this good tax advice? No – probably not. But there’s paying your taxes and putting food on the table. Sometimes you gotta put food on the table. You don’t know when you’ll get that next job. So, while I think tax-wise, you’re probably better off keeping your exemptions where they are – if I were your friend, I would tell you to up your allowances, take the cash, and deal with the consequence (if any) come April. Stick the money from the accrued vacation etc. in the bank. If you need it to live off of – you’ve got it. If you get another job sooner than expected – great, it’s there to pay your taxes AND you’ve got money in savings.

44. Hi Emanuel,
    I’ve got to give you the classic accountant answer: it depends.
    Here’s what we’ve got to look at- first – the children. Are they your children? This is really important because if you are not the biological father, even though they live with you, you cannot claim them for EIC. Now, you might be able to claim them as dependents – if they lived with you for a full year, but not for EIC.
    Also, if they are not your biological children (or adopted, or court appointed foster children) they won’t qualify you for head of household filing status either. So, if your name is not on the kid’s birth certificate – you could have a real problem. If there is another parent with any kind of legal claim – you could be filing your return as single with no dependents and have a huge tax bill.
    But let’s go through it slowly, and see.
    First, let’s look at your fiance. She’s not married to you but she’s living with you. If she lives with you for the entire year – January – December, and makes less than $4,000 a year, and you’re supporting her, then you may claim her as a dependent. You can’t claim head of household using her, you would still be considered single, but you could claim her as a dependent. If she didn’t move in until something in 2016 – you can’t claim her because she wasn’t with you the entire year.
    Now for the kids – if they are not your children, same rules: They have to live with you for the entire 12 months. And, they wouldn’t qualify you to claim head of household – only single with dependents. The only way you could claim EIC on these kids would be to marry their mother. Then you would be the step father and that would give you legal status to claim them for EIC.
    But – what if you’re their legal father? That’s a whole different ballgame. And, only one of those children need to be yours to qualify for head of household filing status. (HH is a better tax rate so you want it if you can get it.)
    Assuming that all three children are yours, and you can claim them for everything, plus your fiance is counted as a dependent – how many exemptions can you claim? Well, you, plus three kids, plus fiance make 5 – right? Plus, if the kids are under age 17, then you could claim 3 more exemptions for the child tax credit. If you make less than $70,000 then you could claim 5 for the child tax credit. So 5 plus 5 is 10. Plus, you could claim one more exemption for the head of household designation so that makes 11. So in this case I’d go 11 federal and 6 for Maine. (Maine’s W4 basically takes your federal and subtracts how many exemptions you’re claiming for the child tax credit)
    I notice that you had two more exemptions than I show. I’m pretty sure it’s about line B – claim another exememption if you are single and only have one job. I hate that line. So many times I do returns for single people who owe because they claimed 2 exemptions because of that line. So I leave it out. And there’s also a line where you can claim an exemption for the Child care credit. If your fiance is a stay at home mom- I’m thinking you don’t get to claim the child care credit so that’s why I’ve got you down to 11 instead of 13. That said, if your income is low enough to qualify for EIC- 13 might be just fine since EIC would cover any tax shortfall. I’d still keep Maine at 6, but federal could easily go to 13 if your income is low enough to claim EIC.
    Now, what if the kids are a combination of yours and your fiance’s from a previous relationship? Then I’d reduce the exemptions by 2 for each child that isn’t yours.
    Gosh, I feel like I just wrote a book. Sorry to go on so long, but you see how there’s so many moving parts? There’s so many rules involved with kids. So here’s some help. If you want to know if you can claim a person as a dependent, the IRS has an assistant for that. Here’s the link: https://www.irs.gov/uac/who-can-i-claim-as-a-dependent?_ga=1.267845195.417861525.1432604861

    Answer the questions and it will let you know if you can claim someone as a dependent or not.

    The IRS also has another program like that to help you figure out if you can claim Head of Household or not. https://www.irs.gov/uac/what-is-my-filing-status

    These are interactive sites, they ask you questions, you answer and it spits out what you need to know. And, you don’t need to be a genius or have a degree in accounting to understand them. (Some of the IRS sites aren’t quite so easy.) But these two are okay. And, you’ll know for certain what you can and can’t claim.

45. Married, spouse doesn’t work, two children, renting.
    The helpful IRS site made an adjustment, but I think it’s to compensate for overpaying so far this year.
    What do you think, Jan?
    Thanks in advance!

46. Hello, i am a single mother with 2 kids under the age of 16. How many allowances should I put on my W-4?

47. Hello Jan, I will be losing my job in several weeks. I have 9.5 weeks of accrued vacation and will get a final paycheck of course. In your opinion, should I go in and change my allowances to 6 or 7 o my W4 to get as much out of that money as possible? If I can find a new job I would of course go back to 2 allowances.

    James

48. Hello Jan,

    I am single, head of household with 3 children and a fiancee that is a stay at home mom. I am getting 13 exemptions for federal and 8 state on W-4. Is this accurate? State of Maine.Thanks!

49. Hi Marie,
    A lot of people are unpleasantly surprised when they buy a house and find out that the tax savings they get from having a mortgage aren’t as great as they thought they were going to be. I’d hold off on changing your withholding until you actually own the house and will be paying the mortgage for a full year. Even then, I think 10 exemptions will be too much for you to claim.

50. Hi Jessica,
    You could probably claim 7 for your federal withholding. State is always harder because every state is different. I’d claim 4 for the state. If you get a big refund you could always change it later.

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