Will my husband and I wind up owing on our taxes if we both...?

Question

claim 2 dependents on our W2's? We're so confused on what filing status we should have. We're trying to avoid owing money.

Should one of us claim 2 and the other claim 1 dependent, so that we don't wind up owing? We have no children.

Answer 1

If you don't have any dependents (children for example) and it's just the two of you, your total allowances claimed between you should be 2 at most.

If you itemize and have high deductions, or have large adjustments to your income or tax credits on your return, you might be OK claiming more than 2 total on your W-4's.

Answer 2

The best advice I can give is only based on my own experience, so take it for what it's worth.

1) Only claim exemptions that are not claimed on another W2. If you claim 1, and your husband claims 1, you two should be fine.

2) To maximize your take-home pay (and inversely, minimize your return) the person who makes the most money should claim both of you, while the one who makes the least should claim ZERO.

(I make substantially more [read 10 times] than my wife, so she claims nothing and I claim myself, her, and our 2 children.)

3) If you make mortgage payments, be sure to itemize so that you can deduct your interest payments and other charitable contributions (i.e. Church tithe, charirtable giving, donations to Goodwill, etc...)

Owing isn't bad all that bad. Owing more than 10% of your tax bill IS bad, in that the Government will fine you if you owe too much.

Answer 3

You may end up owing the IRS and the state money at the end of the year if you both claim one dependent. The only way to be sure that you won't owe is for both of you to claim zero dependants. The downside of that is they take a lot out of your pay checks for taxes, but you usually end up getting a good-sized chunk back at the end of the year. Yeah, I know a lot of people say "You shouldn't do that because it's giving an interest-free loan to the government," but I'd rather have Uncle Sam owing ME money at the end of the year instead of the other way around.

Answer 4

Regardless of your income, you and your husband can claim one exepmtion on your W-4 for every $3400 in planned deductions. Planned deductions is your personal exemptions plus the greater of the standard deduction or itemized deductions.

If you don't itemize, you should have $17,500 in planned deductions (6800 in personal exemptions plus 10700 for the standard deduction for married filing jointly). This means that, combined, you and your husband can claim 5 (17500/3400) exemptions and still get a small refund. One of you can add one more exemption to your W-4.

Answer 5

If you claim zero on your W-2

then when you file claim 2 (you and husband)

you should get money back

By claiming 0 during the year they will with hold more