i am married and my husband and i both work?

Question

i do not want any taxes witheld from my check, but i am trying to see if i should adjust my w4 my husband is cliamimg 6 for federal and 3 for state and our combined income is 61,600 what should i do? can i claim like 10 so that i dont get alot taken out, especially since my husband is already taking out exemptions. please be specific with your answers thanks.

Answer 1

SPECIFICALLY, you will get soooooo screwed if you do this. Claim whatever you should claim. One for yourself, one for your husband, one for each child you have. If you try to guess like this, you will get completely screwed when you do your taxes. I have seen people try to play this game and it has NEVER worked. You will owe the IRS a lot of money plus the interest and fines. Lots of people have duel income, but they both pay taxes from each check. Messing with the numbers will only hurt you.

Answer 2

If you have 14 kids, then that's fine - the two of you, plus the 14 kids would equal the 6 he claims and the 10 you're talking about claiming.

OK, you don't have 14 kids? Then go through the worksheets to see what you should claim between you. The worksheets will help you figure the total allowances for you to claim, then you can split them up between you. If you put down an artificially high number, you'll pay penalties if you end up owing tax when you file your return, which you probably would.

Allowances aren't just for dependents. If you have high deductions, or credits, then you can legally claim more W-4 allowances than you'll have exemptions on your return without a problem, and without owing. That's why you need to go through the W-4 worksheets.

Answer 3

Need a little more info to answer specifically. Are you homeowners? Do you have any big deductions or credits that you can claim?
A married couple with an income of $61,000 should NOT be claiming that many allowances unless they will be eligible for several big deductions.
Visit www.irs.gov and use their W-4 calculator. It's a neat little function that lets you enter your estimated income, deductions, and credits and will tell you how many allowances to claim on your W-4.

If you don't have enough withheld during the year, you will have a big tax bill the following spring AND will face penalties. The IRS does not just let you pay all of your taxes at tax time. If they don't get enough from you during the year, they tack on penalties.

Please keep in mind that your income is taxed together when you file your taxes. It's not like he gets the tax rate for $20,000 and you get the tax rate for $40,000. (or however your incomes are split between you) You get taxed on the combined $60,000 for the year. However, your employer won't know how much the other spouse makes so the payroll deductions will be based on each income individually. The taxes on a single income of $20,000 are MUCH different than the taxes on an income of $20,000 added to a spouse's income of $40,000 at tax filing time.

Generally, you should claim one allowance for yourself on each W-4 and one person should claim an additional allowance per child on ONE of the W-4s.

Bottom line is that it is up to you to determine how much tax you want withheld from your check. But be ready to write a big check in the spring if you claim too many allowances.

Good luck!

Answer 4

Taxgurl's answer is almost perfect. The only thing I would add is that a suggestion that you each withhold as single to offset ( or at least minimize) the increased tax the "stacking effect" that occurs when 2 incomes come together on 1 return with a single $10k Std. deduction.

If you both withhold as Married, you are each telling your employer that you expect to pay no tax on $10k, so $20K will be earned without paying it's own way. When your income goes onto the tax return you'll get only half of that tax free so you'll be underwithheld.

Also, if your combined taxable income is over about $60k, you'll be in the 25% bracket. If you withhold as married, again you'll each be telling your employer that none of your income
will be taxed at a rate higher than 15%, but when you "stack" them on the 1040 some will be taxed at the higher rate and AMBUSH!!

Don't do that to yourselves. Withhold correctly using the iRS software.

Hank Roitman, EA

Answer 5

You have to estimate what your tax liability will be for 2007. There are websites where you can do this. I think Yahoo finance has an estimated tax template you can use. After you determine what you will owe you have to see how much should be withheld each paycheck in order to meet the liability. That is the only way to get it right. Warning: If you don't withhold enough you can get hit with an underpayment penalty from the IRS so make sure you do the calculating. Don't guess- it can be expensive if you get lazy.

Answer 6

It is a matter of preference, but I would just go ahead and let them take as much taxes out as I could handle. They are going to get their taxes one way or another. All that is going to happen if you claim a bunch of exemptions is that they will not take it out now, and you'll owe it ALL in April. It is MUCH easier to pay taxes a little at a time throughout the year than it is to cough it all up at once. If you are lucky, you might even get a refund if you have the taxes taken out now. But claim too many exceptions now, and it will come back to haunt you later. And if you are not eligible for all these tax exemptions, you could be charged with tax fraud.

Answer 7

The more you claim and the less that is taken out, the more you will owe when tax time rolls around.

Answer 8

Not without haveing the exemptions. you may try it and get away with it but you may not. Audits are something no one wants. I would not do anything that would trigger one. That may. You will still have to divie up on the 15th of april.

Answer 9

You can claim exempt, or 99 exemptions if you want and no maney will be taken out (except medicaid and social security - not much you can do about those) - no one is going to stop you, but you may end up owing money come April 15th '08.