How many should I claim on my W-4?

Question

I am starting a new job next week, and will undoubtedly have to fill out the dreaded W-4. My wife stays home with our 5-month old daughter, and my salary will be $35,000/year. So, that makes a family of 3, with myself as the only income source.

Last year, we filed "married but filing separately" on our taxes, and will do so again. So, how many should I claim? Thanks!

Correction: I was wrong about filing separately. I checked with my Father-in-Law, who does our taxes, and we file jointly.

Sorry for the confusion.

Answer 1

www.paycheckcity.com is a paycheck calculator that will help you figure out what you should be claiming on W-4. Bigger question though should be why are you filing under the married filing separately filing status? That is the absolute worst filing status that you can have.

Answer 2

Why in the world would you file as married filing separately? Even though yours is the only income, you can still file a joint return and save some tax money.

Your W-4 can show 3 for the three exemptions if you file a joint return, plus 2 for the child tax credit you’ll get, plus one for being married with a non-employed spouse, for a total of 6. If you want to be very safe that you won’t owe when you file your return, you might cut that back to 4 or 5. If you really plan to file as married filing separately, cut that back to 2 or 3 - but unless you have some good reason to do that, file a joint return.

Good luck on your new job.

Answer 3

With that amount of income and filing separately, I'd go with 3.

Answer 4

Go here: http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96196,00.html and use the IRS withholding calculator. The page I linked you to tells you what documents you need to use the calculator. It will help you figure out how many to claim on your W-4 so you don't end up owing at the end of the year. It's pretty accurate.