Claiming Exemptions—the W-4 for Dummies

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

1. Hello,
   My husband left Active duty August 2013 and is now a reservist (one weekend a month). He is about to begin a new job soon (June 2014). I have been working a part time job with full time hours. I cannot remember what I claimed on my W2 when I filled it out, but we have three children. What exactly should he be claiming on his W2 for the new job? What should I have on mine? And we are interested in getting more money back with each paycheck and less at the end of the year or breaking even. Thank you so much. Namaste!!!

2. By what’s stated on the W4 worksheet I should be claiming 7, can I keep this as my allowance for a few months to make alittle extra money then lower it to 4 on my W4? If so will this mess up my taxes at the end of the year to much? I don’t want to pay a ton to the IRS.

3. Hi Xerfence25,
   The best way to figure your withholding is to use the IRS withholding calculator: http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator

   Shooting from the hip, if you have two kids, and you can claim the exemptions on your tax return, then I think you could easily claim 3 exemptions on your withholding, maybe even more. But there may be other things with your taxes and life that I don’t know about so it’s worth your while checking out the IRS withholding calculator and getting a more tailored answer for you.

   Here’s another clue. Did you get a pretty decent refund this past year and were you making the same amount of money? Then that’s a good hint that you can up your exemptions.

4. Hi Priscilla,
   Congratulations on your son going to college. Because he’s going to college you will still be claiming him on your tax return.

   If it’s just you and your son–you can claim 2 exemptions of your W4. (You might be able to claim more if you have a lot of other deductions or qualify for EIC, but 2 is what I’d normally recommend.)

   Yes, you are still head of household.

   Yes, you can still claim him as a dependent.

   If he gets a part time job he should fill out his W4 as single with 0 exemptions.

5. Hi, I am 40 yrs old, My son just turned 18 and will be going to college. He may end up getting a part time job. He will still be a dependent b/c he has aspergers and is not yet ready to be on his own.
   1) What should my allowances on my W-4 reflect?
   2) Can I still be HOH on W4? On taxes?
   3) Can i claim him as dependent?
   4) If he gets a part time job… how should he fill out w4?

6. Hi I’m divorce I have 2 children and right now I’m claiming 1 on my allowance and I make around 30000 a year, but I take home a little, I want to take home more but I don’t want to pay tax end of the ye

7. Hi Anna,
   Here’s the thing. I’m guessing that you and your husband are in the 25% tax bracket. So, your $10,000 of income will create $2,500 worth of taxes. And if you claim married and 3 exemptions on your W4, you’re going to have hardly anything taken out in taxes.

   So instead of getting a refund, you could even have a balance due. Is that what you really want?

8. Hi Jesse,
   If your husband’s income is really low, that might be okay because with you not working, and having three kids, there could be EIC and that would cover your taxes.

   But if he’s got a good job, I’m thinking the most he should claim right now is 5 exemptions. If you get a giant refund next year, well then you can boost it up. But claiming 11 and having nothing taken out sounds a little worrisome to me.

   To know for certain, grab your tax return and his most recent pay stub and check out the IRS withholding calculator: http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator

   It will tell you exactly home many exemptions he should be claiming to get to a zero balance return. If you want a bigger refund, claim fewer exemptions.

9. Hi Atul,
   If you’re single and live alone you should probably claim 1 exemption. If you’re living with your parents and still in school, you should claim zero.

10. I am married and have one child. I am starting a part time job that will probably earn about $10,000 or so a year. My husband is the main wage earner and we file jointly but always claim less exceptions than we are entitled because he likes to get a refund. I would like to claim married with three exemptions because I want to get as much in my paycheck as possible for spending money. I don’t think that this extra money will put us into another tax bracket. Am I ok to claim the most exemptions even though he is the main wage earner. Thanks for your help.

11. My husband just started a new job in Feb. After being unemployed 2 months after getting out of the military. Ive never filled out a w-4 but he had me do it and i think i filled it out wrong…. it says thee are ZERO fed coming out of his pay and he is claiming 11…?! I don’t work and we have 3 kids. help please! I can’t figure out what to do!

12. Hello,

    I am single and live at home and just noticed on my W4 that there are 2 exemptions. I don’t have any dependents so I am not sure why there are 2 exemptions in the first place. What should I change it to or should I even change it at all?

    Thanks!

13. Hi NL,
    congratulations on your upcoming marriage!

    You can change your withholding now. That’s fine. Go ahead and do the single 0. It will withhold a little more than the Married 0 but that’s probably good. (Personally, when I was a W2 employee I always withheld at the higher single rate.)

    Good luck!

14. Hello,

    I am getting married in October. I understand that this will mean that we are considered married for all of 2014. I make a little more than half of my soon to-be husband’s salary. We both currently claim Single-1. I know from your blog I should claim married but withhold at higher single rate, zero allowances.

    My question is – Is it an issue to go ahead and change my W4 now so I am withholding the correct amount all year, even though we aren’t married yet? Or should I perhaps just change to single-0? Will that get me close enough for now?

    Thank you

15. Hi CC,
    The best answer I can give you is to prepare your tax return and see how it turns out. When you’re married with two incomes, there’s so many possibilities. I suggest you do your taxes, see how your refund/balance due looks. If you’re happy, don’t change things. If you’re not happy, then make adjustments. And I’d use the IRS withholding calculator. It’s a good tool.

16. Hello,

    I have a peculiar situation. My wife and I both work (I earn higher, if that’s relevant). On my 2013 W3, I’m listed as SINGLE with zero Federal and State exemptions. On hers, she’s listed as MARRIED with 2 Federal and 0 State exemptions. We have no children.

    How do I deal with this scenario in my returns? How will it affect my return?

    Thanks,
    CC

17. Hi BC,
    I’m guessing single 1 withholding for your main job and single 0 on the second job.
    I’m guessing that your child that you claim doesn’t live with you, otherwise you’d use the head of household filing status and that would lower your taxes.
    At your income, the second job is taxed at 25% but the withholding is next to nothing, that’s pretty much why you owed so much. You can probably get away with single 2 exemptions on the main job and single zero on the second job. For a really accurate reading, go to the IRS website and use your most recent paycheck on the withholding calculator. http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator

18. I just completed my 2013 taxes and owe about $2000. Single and claim one of my children (age 7) as a dependent. No other credits or deductions (no house; some student loan interest, but my income is too high to claim it.) Two jobs – one pays about $85K and the other is a “seasonal” job in the fall which pays about $2500.

    I’m looking to change my withholdings on my W4. Making sense of it is like Greek to me. I want to essentially “break even” at the end of the year. Would it be wise to simply use a single (1) withholding?

19. Hi Erin,
    Thank you for your service to our country. It sounds to me like you’re going to have two W2s next year; one for your full time job and one for being a reservist, right?

    The best way to figure this is to use the IRS withholding calculator. It’s a pain in the behind at first, but it gives you a really accurate result. Here’s the link: http://apps.irs.gov/app/withholdingcalculator/

    My gut reaction is that you should claim single 1 exemption on your main job, and single 0 exemptions on the reservist job. That’s completely by the seat of my pants, not knowing your income or anything like that. It’s probably not a bad number.

    If you like a little refund, or are a little nervous about paying in–go for single, zero exemptions on both.

    It’s hard to tell when someone has two jobs, that’s why I like the withholding calculator. When you’ve got two jobs, you often get kicked into a higher tax bracket, but the withholding is at the lower tax bracket so you get messed up. But if your reservist duty is one of those once a month for a weekend kind of deals–you’re probably okay doing it the way I told you.

20. I recently filed my 2013 taxes and january last year I was working a full time job and left there to go into the military. I wasnt aware on what I was suppose to put on my w4 form so now I have to owe federal. For the future reference I am a reservist part time and going to be working a full time job also. What should I put as my number of exemptions for each?

21. Hi Kristi,
    I’ve you’ve been claiming the same thing for the last twelve years and haven’t had a problem–well, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

    If you change form withholding 6 exemptions to 0 or 1, then you shouldn’t wind up owing the government more at tax time, but owe less or even get a refund.

    But if you’ve been filing your taxes every year and you’re doing just fine–I wouldn’t change a thing.

22. I’ve been claiming married 6 for the last 12 years with my employer. I honestly never knew that I was claiming 6. (I was young when I started my job and had no one to guide me with filling out my w4) so now I’m not married and my children dont live with me. I’ve been told that if I suddenly change my withholdings from married 6, to single 0 or single 1, they I will end up owing the government. can you give me some advice?

23. Hi Heather,
    A couple of years ago, I had a couple of people come to me with a similar problem. The IRS had changed the withholding tables and some employers did their employee withholding wrong. Big companies use software that’s all computerized, but some smaller companies were using the tax formula and had copied it down wrong so people’s withholdings were wrong.

    So what happened? The IRS said that even though it was the employer’s fault, the individual taxpayer was still the one who was liable for paying the tax.

    Now as far as the employers go–one of them was quite generous and paid a bonus to the employee to help her with her taxes. The other one did nothing–they weren’t required to.

    At the end of the day, it’s money that you would have paid anyway. (Although if you’re hit with a penalty I would think that your employer would at least pay that.)

    Now what should you do? First thing–change your withholding. Second, when you get you next paycheck, look carefully to see if any withholding is taken out. Federal withholding is called just that: federal withholding. You’ll have social security and medicare taxes taken out–that’s called FICA. Social Security is 6.2% of your wages. Medicare is 1.45% of your wages. State withholding will say state withholding. If there’s nothing on the line for federal withholding–you need to go to the accountant right away and have her fix it.

    Since you know that the accountant is irresponsible, you’ll have to watch your pay stubs carefully. I hope she at least said she was sorry.

24. Hi, I ran into a conflict with my taxes this year, when i filled out my w-4 form for 2012 for some reason i had misread the form and wrote exempt, and when i got my w-2 back in 2013 there werent any federal taxes taken out and i had to pay in. After realizing i made the mistake i filled out another w-4 form to correct my mistake, I had thought everything was taken care of ,but when i got my w-2 for 2013 they still did not take out federal income taxes, i called the accountant to see what the problem was and found out she had used my w-4 form from 2012 instead of using the revised 2013 w-4 form. so now IRS says i have to pay in again. I dont know what to do, i had already fixed this problem this time last year, and had talked to the accountant and she told me there was nothing she could do about it. Is there anyway to resolve this? I do not want to pay for a mistake that i didnt make.

25. Hey Tiffany,
    Don’t worry about it. The worst thing that can happen is that you owe tax. Yes, that would be bad, but you haven’t done anything wrong or bad or anything like that.

    Now personally, I (me–what I really do when I get a W2 because my husband makes more than me too) I claim “Married but withhold at the higher single rate” with zero exemptions. Back when I had a wage type job my income was just extra on top of my husbands. Well, my husband by himself was in a higher tax bracket. My income, if I was single would be at a lower tax bracket, but since my income was just extra on top of his, I withheld more to cover the taxes. (Plus, I like refunds. I know tax people are supposed to say you want to break even, but me personally, I like to get a refund.)

    So technically, I would have your husband withhold as married with 4 exemptions and you claim single with zero. Remember, you’ve got the child tax credit for 2 kids, plus you’ll have your day care credit so as long as your husband withheld, you should probably be okay anyway.

    Good luck!

26. Hi~
    Very confused about the tax thing 🙁 MY husband and I got married July of 2012, we have 2 children, I was unemployed then so things were easier … He has a full time job and makes way more than I do and claims the kiddos from what I know, NOW I have a part time job and made close to 10,000 for the year, I was told I should put (1) on line 5…NOW I’m scared thinking I should have put (0), was hoping for a nice refund. We also paid daycare for 2….PLEASE ease my mind!

27. Hi Carolyn,
    Congratulations on your wedding! I would put zero on line 5 just to be on the safe side. Generally, the spouse with the higher paycheck should claim all of the exemptions, and the spouse with the smaller paycheck shoudl claim zero exemptions. That’s not perfect for everyone, but it’s a pretty good rule of thumb.
    You’ll want to take another look at your income and deductions after you’ve done your first tax return together and maybe tweak things a little. But if you claim zero and have your husband claim two, you should be fine. If you’re itemizing on your return you might have him claim more exemptions–but no more than two if you’re not itemizing and there are no children involved.

28. Hi Ellen,
    It looks to me like you did it right. If you’re single and expect to make over $14,000 for the year, you chose F. But your employer isn’t withholding, so that’s a little odd. I would think that you could either chose to withhold a little extra. The marginal tax rate for Connecticutt is 5% so I’d just write 5% of whatever your paycheck is as your extra withholding. That way, you’ll know you’re taking out what needs to be taken.

29. Hi Airren,
    Congratulations on the new job. Generally, when you have a married couple, the spouse that makes the most money claims all the exemptions and the spouse that makes less claims zero exemptions. It’s not a perfect formula, but it’s a good rule of thumb.
    When I have spouses that make about the same, I usually have them both claim zero exemptions just because they often get kicked into a higher tax bracket and of they claim all their exemptions, they don’t have enough withheld.

    That said, if your income is low enough combined that you can still get an Earned Income Tax credit–then it usually doesn’t matter if you both claim the exemptions–the EIC will cover the withholding.

    A good calculator is on the IRS website. Here’s the link: http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator

    You’ll want to have the latest copies of your pay stubs and last year’s taxes to fill out the form, but it gives you a good clue as to if you’ll owe money or not.

30. I just got married and I am filling out the W4 for my new job. My husband and I are going to file jointly and he makes more money than I do. I checked the box “married, but withhold at higher single rate” does this mean that I put 0 on line 5 or do I put 1? Also, do I have to fill out the two-earner worksheet or would he just have to do that because he will be considered HOH?

31. I am single and I have 3 jobs. At one of my part time jobs I recently filled out a State of Connecticut W4. I used the code F, and no state tax is being taken out of my check.. I must be missing something. What do I add to my CT-W4 so that they take the correct amount of taxes out ? I want to have the taxes taken out so that I don’t have to pay the state at the end of the year. (I get paid bi-monthly at this job).

32. I know I shouldn’t worry but I’m afraid I might have to owe taxes. I got this new job and I’m married with one child. I had claimed 3 on my form should that be right? My husband is also working as well. Should i have claimed him or should I have just claimed my daughter and I?

33. Hi So Confused,
    One thing we can both agree on these days is money is tight! You have a right to be confused, especially with two jobs! It’s kind of tricky for you. A lot of it depends upon how much you make. Generally, when you have two jobs, it kicks you into a higher tax bracket so you definitely want to withhold more than normal. On the other hand, if your income is low enough and your child qualifies you for EIC, then it won’t hurt if you increase your exemptions.
    The IRS has a calculator that’s pretty helpful. Here’s the link: http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator

    You’ll want to have your paystubs and your last year’s tax return. If you generally get a big refund, what I’ve been telling people is to switch their withholding so they get more money now (claim 2 exemptions on your main job instead of zero for example) so that you’ve got a little spending money for the holidays. (Tax refunds are looking like they’ll be late this year so you can’t count on your refund to help you pay the bills.)

    If you don’t normally get a big refund–then that’s not a good idea. And it sounds like you’re probably doing the right thing by claiming zero on the main and 2 on your second.

34. Hi, I’m a single parent of 1 child and work 2 part time jobs. I am currently claiming 0 with my main/first job and claiming 2 with my other seasonal job.

    I’m confused on what to claim on my W-4 anymore. I do like a big refund at the end of the year, but would like to make it that I basically break even (or at least not owe anything) nowadays since money has been tight.

    Please help!

35. Hi Mary,
    I know exactly what happened, it happens to people all the time. You’ve got two jobs–if you only had one of those jobs, then you’d probably be getting a real nice refund. You’re withholding based on that lower income. But because you’ve got two jobs, your income actually bumps you into a higher tax bracket.
    Here’s what you can do to figure things out. The IRS has this thing called a withholding calculator. Here’s the link: http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator

    It will really help to have your last year’s tax return with you, and you’re also going to want to have your most recent pay stub. It’s a bit of a pain in the butt to go through the questions, but it really gives you a good answer about what your refund would look like if you keep doing things the way you’re doing them.

    So, if you want a bigger refund, you withhold more–meaning claim fewer exemptions, if you’re claiming one, then claim zero. If you’re already claiming zero, then claim zero and withhold additional.

    The IRS calculator does help you with your state withholding, but the principle is the same–want a bigger refund, claim less exemptions.

    Whatever you do, do not–I repeat DO NOT, write “exempt” on your W4. I told someone to claim fewer exemptions last year so she wrote exempt on her W4 thinking it would mean the most- (it really means they don’t withhold at all) -and she got hit with a huge tax bill.

36. Hi,
    I have two jobs and last year I barely got back any federal money and i had to pay the state back. I thought if I added the federal and state withholdings from both jobs, I would be able to get an estimate of what I was looking at to receive at the end of the year and it came to be about $1200, but I actually only got like $600 and I owed the state $90. How can I fix this, where I get more back in federal and not pay the state at all or at least less than $90. I’m single and have no dependents. Do I need to fill my W-4’s differently??

37. Kristy,

    You will get the money back when you file your taxes in 2013.

    You could fill out another W-4 and hand it to your employer. That will stop the taxes being taken out starting at the time your employer makes the change.

38. Hi Simone,
    You need to change your withholding right away. My gut reaction is to switch to single with zero exemptions, but I think you’ll still need some additional withholding. You can go to the IRS website, they’ve got a special calculator you can use to figure out your withholding. Here’s a link: http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator

    It’s so much easier chaning your withholding now than it is to owe a bunch of money come April 15th.

39. Hi Morgan,
    It may be possible for your parents to claim you as a dependent. The big question is–are you still in school? If yes, then your parents could still claim you. Or, they might claim your child. You’ve got a special situation. You’re going to want to work with your parents to come up with the best tax situation for the whole family.

    If your parents can claim you then they would also claim your daughter, in that case–I would claim 0 on your W4.

    If you’re going to be claiming yourself and your child on your taxes–you probably won’t have any tax liability at all and would not need to have any federal withholding.

    Sorry, I’m not really answering your question am I? Claim single and zero–I suspect that it will have you withholding more than you need, but if your parents wind up claiming you that will be perfect. If you wind up claiming yourself and your daughter, you should have a nice refund.

40. I am an 18 year old girl with a daughter. I still live at home with my parents. I do not know the number of allowances to list on my IL W4. Can my parents still claim me?

41. Ive been working at my current job since June 2011. The job was initially a 6 week summer program (paid) for students. The HR rep told me to file exempt because it was only a summer job nd i wouldnt be making alot of money (made ~4,000 that summer). After that 6 weeks my employer decided to hire me as a If & when part time emoployee while i attended college. May of 2013 i recieved a raise and moved into a regular position (10.25 hr 48 hrs a week, during school, 80 hr a week during break). When i submitted my w4 for this year i still wrote exempt. Am i going to owe the IRS money????

42. Hi, I’m a college student working a part time job, I claimed either 0 or 1 on my w-4 when i started my job, but my mom told me i should have claimed exempt because i wont make enough money to have to pay taxes. I’ve had about $400 taken out in taxes so far, is there anyway i can get it back next year when taxes are due? or can i get it earlier?

43. Hi Brooke,
    The first thing is that because your incomes are about the same, you are probable in a higher tax bracket because of your combined incomes. Generally, one of you would claim all of the exemptions–which would be 5 most likely, and the other would claim zero.

    But if you want to be really accurate–use the IRS withholding calculator. Here’s the link: http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator

    You’ll want your most recent pay stuff and you tax return. It’s a pretty cool tool. It works towards getting a zero refund. If you want a higher refund, claim fewer exemptions (which means less money in your paycheck.)

44. Great information! Thank you! My husband has 3 kids (to his ex-wife). How many he gets to claim rotates every other year. (He got to claim 2 this year…and one next year). I have two children from a prior relationship. Could you please advise how our W-4’s should look. As a side note…we both make about the same amount of money. Thank you again!

45. Hi Shell shell,
    I think you’re probably doing it right.

46. HELLO I HAVE A SMALL PENSION, SINGLE , AND ONE JOB I THINK SINGLE AND 0 ALLOWANCE AND AN ADDITIONAL $10.00 JUST FOR THE PENSION SAKE

47. Hi Sheena,
    You used to be able to get your EIC throughout the year, but the IRS cancelled that program. You can claim 2 exemptions (maybe even three) so that your weekly take home is a little better, but the best you’ll do is not having any federal withholding at all.

48. Hi Debbie,
    If you are using computer software, if you input the whole W2–then it will be added into the rights spot automatically.
    If you are doing it by hand, you will add the amount in box 8 to the amount in box 1 for your wages.
    Does that help?

49. im a single mom work 2 jobs and attend school and i have 1 child.. i need my money through the year instead of at the end so how can i claim during the year to break even?

50. Hello, My husband recieved his w2 and we filed our taxes and get a small refund…. all good so far, this week he recieved another updated w2 with the missing allocated tips amount listed and the attached letter told us to file a amended 1040X. the problem is i can’t find where to put the allocated tips amount as in box 8. And how much of the file i need to fill out. Could you please expaine to me in lay mans terms 🙂 where i am to adjust the amount? I filed e-file.
    Thank you
    Debbie

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