What is the maximum federal and state allowances you can claim for your paycheck, without owing money tax time

Question

This is for a family of two.

example is i am a family of two. Instead of claiming (2) allowances I want to claim like (5) or (6).

Answer 1

$42,076

Answer 2

For a family of 2, the most you would normally claim would be 3, assuming that you do not itemize deductions and have no other income than income from wages.

You take one withholding allowance for yourself, one for your spouse, and one for each eligible dependent. Additionally if you are single and have only one job OR if you are married and your spouse does not work you can claim one additional allowance.

Claiming 3 in your situation would result in a very tiny refund or possibly a very tiny tax bill at the end of the year, normally within $50 either way of even money. If you were to claim 5 or 6 you would be facing a rather hefty tax bill.

Answer 3

If you have very high itemized deductions, and/or maybe some fairly large credits for something like educational expenses, then you can probably get away with claiming 5 or 6. But otherwise you'd end up with a large tax bill when you file, and probably penalties for underwithholding.