Whats the most tax exemptions a single, unmarried person with no children can take?

Question

Is it possible for a single, unmarried person with no children to claim anything other than 0 or 1 on their taxes? Or can a person with this status claim more? If a person with this status claimed more (say 3) what would the tax implications be?

Wouldn't answering 1 for xemptions would be A,B and E from W-4 lead to 3 exemptions?

Is there a difference between the amount you claim on w-4 and tax returns?

Answer 1

The best thing to do on a W-4 is fill in the worksheet as best as you can. Many times, a single person enters more than 1 "withholding allowances" on their W-4 on line 5. It is not illegal. For every increase in withholding allowances, the amount of tax withheld each payperiod drops and the amount of refund you get drops. I, for example, used to enter Single 4 when I had a house with mortgage interest and real estate taxes that I claimed on Schedule A.

If you have income other than work, like lots of interest, dividends, or sales of stock, then you want a lower withholding allowance. If you have expenses and credits like lots of stuff on Schedule A, or child tax credits, or IRA contributions, then you want a higher withholding allowance. The worksheet takes many of these into consideration.

Finally, if you choose a withholding allowance that is too high, you will not have enough tax withheld each week and may end up owing the IRS at the end of the year when you "do" your taxes. If you owe them a significant amount, they may throw in some penalties on top of the tax. Usually the penalties are small and are never applied if the amount you owe is less than $1,000. The acutal calculation is rather complicated, so I won't go into it here.

Best bet is to fill out the worksheet as best as you can and, if you want to be extra conservative, choose a number that is one less than what you get in box H.

As far as your additional question, there is no need to look any farther than on your W-4 for this answer. It is right there on line H "This number may be different than the number of exemptions you claim on your tax return." The number on your W-4 is your withholding allowances and the number on your 1040 just above line 7 is your exemptions. These do NOT have to be the same. Most of the previous answers are talking about your exemptions. For you, since you will not be claiming anyone other than yourself, you will have one exemption on your 1040.

Good luck :)

Answer 2

The question is do you want a huge refund next April or a smaller refund by increasing your take home pay. The W-4 has a worksheet which can be used to estimate the number of exemptions given the daycare expenses and child care credit. {EDIT} With an estimated income of $18,000 (includes the unemployment benefits) and 3 months left in the year - just claim yourself and the baby and forget about the worksheet. Sorry.... {END OF EDIT} I've known people receiving $3,500 refunds with child care credit and working full time. If you want the government to keep your money interest free - that's fine. If you want a smaller refund and more money with each check - then increase your exemptions by at least 2 or 3 (meaning 4 or 5 vs. 2)

Answer 3

Your W-4 shows allowances, not exemptions - exemptions are on your actual return at the end of the year.

If you're talking about the number of allowances on your W-4, you would normally claim zero or one but could have more than that, for example if you had high itemized deductions. In the example you give, it would be rare that you could file for head of household if you're single with no children. Could happen if you had dependents that weren't your children.

On your return, one would also be standard, but could be more in special circumstances, for example if you are supporting your parents and able to claim them as dependents.

If you claim too many allowances on your W-4, the result is that when you file your return, you'll owe money, and possible penalties and interest for underpayment of withholding. Even claiming 2, for lines A and B of the W-4 form, could leave you short at the end. So if by "with no children" you are saying "with no dependents", one would be safer than 2. If you have 1 on your W-4 but still get a significant refund one year, and nothing much changes the next year, then you might consider increasing it to 2.

Answer 4

Your allowances on form W-4 don't have to be the same number of exemptions you claim on your tax return. I think if you are single and have only one job you may claim up to 2 allowances on your W-4; you wouldn't want to have too little taken from your pay check.

Answer 5

I disagree with TaxMan on only one point. I have found the worksheet is not the best way to determine withholding allowances. The best way is to fill out a mock tax return to determine how much your tax liability will be and use the withholding tables to determine the number of allowances that will come closest to matching that amount. The calculator linked below is a good compromise between the two extremes.

Answer 6

It's only one, you can only claim yourself on your return. You cannot claim anybody you are not responsible for. The number's do not keep adding up if put into different places. 1 is 1 and so forth.

Answer 7

Yes, you can claim up to (I believe) 4 on your W-4. You'll get less taken out of your paycheck. You still claim 0 or 1 on your tax *return*.

It just means you'll get your money throughout the year, rather than waiting for a tax refund.

Answer 8

if you pay more than half of someones income you can claim them on your taxes or at least thats how it is here in oregon so it depends on the state