My husband and I work full time. We have a house and three children. What can we claim on our W-4?

Answer 1

Sit down with your hubby and a copy of the W-4 package. Fill out the worksheets on page 2 for deductions and dual earners. The resulting number of exemptions is what you should claim in total, NOT for each of you!

The withholding tables for Married people are weighted to where one works and the other doesn't. If you both claim Married and 5 on your W-4s, I can almost guarantee a MAJOR bill due at tax time. To properly calculate your withholdings, you MUST use the worksheets on page 2 of Form W-4.

Answer 2

There's a worksheet on the W-4 form you can fill out to estimate what you can safely claim. To start, you have 5 allowances total for the two jobs. Additional allowances for itemized deductions would depend on your total itemized deductions, not just the fact that you own a house. If the kids are under 17 so you can get a child tax credit for them, you'll still have a fair amount over.

But-it-was-funny-huh is confused, so pay no attention to that response. The only place where you are limited to taking benefits for only 2 kids is for EIC, not for the rest of your return. And as far as having someone else claim one of your kids, with that he’s suggesting tax fraud – a REAL bad idea!!

Answer 3

Hi Shady,

The answer to your question lies in how much you and your husband need and/or want each month from you occupations to meet household and family expenses. If you've got three children, are they all 16 years old or younger? If so, you may, depending on your income, qualify for the child tax credit which could give you up to $1,000 per child as a credit off of any tax owed on your taxable income. Great huh? but there is more.
If you pay for child care services while you and your husband are at work, you may qualify for dependent care benefits {up to 20% of the total allowed child care expense of $6,000} This is a credit which would also come off of any tax liability you have. Some states also give credits for child care, and some are even refundable {meaning that they will give you a refund of the credit allowed}.

In my opinion, individuals pay too much in Federal and State withholding out of fear that they will owe at the end of the year. Thus allowing the IRS and their State to use that money INTEREST FREE all year.

In reality, taxpayers should only pay in 90% of the prior years tax liabilty at minimum or 100% of the prior tax liabilty at most.

Couldn't you use that money to earn interest, pay off an existing loan or even lower your taxable income by deferring the amount into a qualified retirement account?

Please talk with your financial advisor or go to www.naea.org for the nearest Enrolled Agent in your area. Enrolled Agents are licensed by the Federal government and specialize in tax. Get a few opinions and make your money work for you; by lowering your taxable income while saving for retirement at the same time and getting the most out of the allowable Federal and State tax credits applicable to your family.

Good luck and happy saving.

Answer 4

If you want to get a nice refund at the end of the year, you should claim (combined you and your husband) no more than 5 exemptions. Now make sure to get the correct number of exemptions some pleople confuse this with dependents don't. The smaller the number for your exemptions the larger your weekly or bi-weekly check will be. However at the end of the year it all comes together. You can either pay a little every pay day or pay it at the end of the year. It really is a personal preference. Hope this helps.

Answer 5

it depends if you need the extra money every time you get paid. if you could use some extra cash every check then you should claim all the exemptions you are entitled to, you should claim married with 3 dependents. when you complete your taxes you should get back less money because you claimed so many exemptions and less money was taking out of your check but do not worry because with your three dependents im pretty sure you wont have to end up owing the irs money, you would have to owe if you claim more exemptions you are entitled to and do not have any dependents to claim on your taxes. thats where you either get back a really low refund or end up owing. but with your three dependents you should not worry. if you dont need the extra cash every check and perfer a larger tax refund at the end of the year then just claim married with no dependents or you can reduce the amount of exemptions for example married with zero dependents, married with 1 dep, married with 2 dep, married with 3 dep.

Answer 6

well i know for sure that you can only receive credit for two of your children...i just found this out...so try to use the kids that are most expensive, that are in a lot of clubs, that kinda stuff...i know my grandma used to claim gas when she worked on opposite sides of twon...if you can, have another person claim your other kid, making a deal that whatever he os she gets for your kid, that you will give them a share...my mom has four kids, and she used to do that with my grandma...each got two kids...so everyone was happy!!! =) but im 19 now, so i have to wait till i have kids...lol

Answer 7

There is no law on taxes!!
You will find it on the Internet
They will say it was ratified
But if you look and read real carefully
It will say the states didn't agree with it