It's just my husband and I. We claim 0 dependents through out the year. At the end of the year can we claim each other on our taxes? We file married filing together. Also do we file for head of household? I have always claimed 0 dependents at the end of year and have not filed head of household. People have told me to file 2 dependents, each other, and file head of household. Then we would get back more taxes at the end of year. Any help would be great.
2007-02-17 09:22:04 · 6 answers · asked by TWil 3 in Business & Finance ➔ Taxes ➔ United States
Can I claim myself as a dependent? Can my husband claim himself?
2007-02-17 10:02:52 · update #1
People have been telling you some very strange, and wrong, things.
Your choices for filing status are married filing joint, or married filing separately. Married filing separately is almost guaranteed to cost you more in taxes, maybe a little bit, maybe a lot, compared to filing jointly.
Head of household is a status for someone who is not married but is providing a home for at least one other person, usually a dependent but there are exceptions for divorced parents. Head of household tax rates are higher than married filing joint, but lower than filing single.
When you file a joint return, you don't "claim each other" but you do take an exemption for each of you on the return. There are a total of two of you, so you get two exemptions.
If you did what people are suggesting, each file a return as head of household claiming the other, you would each show up in the system twice, once as a filer, and on the other return as a dependent, and this would cause the IRS to contact you and ask what in the world you thought you were doing by trying to take four exemptions for two people. Some IRS agent would probably get a good laugh while you explained it to them, then would explain to you that you can't do this, and would assess the additional taxes plus interest and possibly penalties.
File your joint return, claiming your two exemptions for yourself and your husband, and don't listen to these people who obviously don't have a clue about tax law.
2007-02-17 12:58:08 · answer #1 · answered by Judy 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You file one return and combine both incomes. You should file married filing jointly, not head of household.
Your standard deduction is $10,500.
You both have a personal exemption. That totals 2 on your married filing jointly return, $3300 each if you are not disabled or over 65.
$3,300 x 2 = $6,600.
You have no dependents. You can not file head of household without a dependent. Your spouse can not be your dependent.
Your W-4 is the form where you tell your employer how much to withhold from your paycheck each pay period. Most likely, filing 0 on your W-4 will give you a large refund when you file your tax return, but that means the government holds the money subtracted from your paycheck throughout the year. Filing 0 on each of your W-4's is correct if you were filing your tax return as single persons rather than married filing jointly.
There are reasons when claiming 0 on your W-4 makes sense for a married filing jointly couple. Here is a W-4 form with instructions you can use to help determine the correct withholdings:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf
One spouse can file 0 on their W-4 with their employer, and the other spouse can file 1, or 2 with their employer to reduce the total amount of tax withheld. Or, maybe it would be better if you both filed a W-4 with 1 exemption on each. Use the worksheet on page 2 of the W-4 form to help determine the correct amount.
2007-02-17 17:54:26 · answer #2 · answered by AngeloElectro 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You and your husband would normally file a joint return. You'll get two personal exemptions, one for each of you. You do NOT claim yourselves as "dependents".
Neither of you can file as Head of Household, that does not apply to married couples who live together.
What you claim on your W4 at work only affects how much tax is withheld by your employers. It has nothing to do with your filing status on your tax return. Generally a married couple would each fill out their W4 as married with 1 withholding exemption.
However, if your incomes are significantly different, you should both complete the worksheets on page 2 of Form W4 to make sure that enough tax is withheld to cover your combined tax liability.
2007-02-17 18:23:31 · answer #3 · answered by Bostonian In MO 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You file "Married filing Joint". head of household is for a single person with children.
On a joint return, you claim one exemption for each person. That's the two of you. There will be a little box for each on of those.
2007-02-17 17:30:32 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, you cannot claim yourselves as dependants. That is a contradiction (your deduction basically covers that).
2007-02-17 17:25:53 · answer #5 · answered by the Boss 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Married filing jointly, that is all you can do.
2007-02-17 17:27:49 · answer #6 · answered by DB 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋