If I have not carried my children on my W2's @ all this year, can I claim them when I do my taxes?

Question

Ok so I have worked all year and when I do my W2's I never claim my children. For dependents I only claim 1 for myself. I was told by doing so it would help me owe less money at the end of the year. I qualify for EIC so when I do my taxes I claim my children. Is this legal.....? Can you not claim your children all year and then pick them back up.

Answer 1

What you claim on your W-4 just controls how much tax is withheld from your paycheck, not who is a legal dependent. Assuming that you meet the requirements to claim your children, you can definitely claim them when you file your tax return early the following year.

But if you have children and are eligible for EIC you wouldn't owe any taxes even if you claimed them through the year. By not claiming them you get a bigger refund, but it's just the same money that otherwise you'd have gotten through the year, not any extra - what you're doing is loaning the government some of your money for the year at no interest.

Answer 2

You are confusing the W-4 and W-2. A W-4 tells your employer how many exemptions you wish to claim, thereby increasing or decreasing the amount of tax taken from your pay. The W-2 is a tax form you get at the end of the year that summarizes your pay and taxes for the entire year.

At tax time, you can list all dependents as long as you have the legal right to do so.

You don't indicate how many children you have, but since you are claiming only 1 (you) through out the year, your tax being paid is more than if you had indicated 2, 3, etc. This means you will likely get a larger refund at the end of the year.

In theory, people should claim as many as they would at tax time to come out even, because all year long you have let the gov't use your money, when it could have been in your pocket.

Answer 3

If you have two children and qualify for EIC, whoever told you not to put those children on your W-4 wasn't giving you the best advice. There was no need to withhold at the higher rate.

Of course you can claim your children regardless of whether they were figured in your withholding or not. Perfectly legal. File soon after January 1 because you will most likely be getting a hefty refund.

Answer 4

Regards to your W4. If you qualify for EIC, you are only increasing the amount of your refund, by only claiming one exemption. Your tax liabilty is not considered by how many exeptions you claim to your employer but how much money you make. Yes, you can claim your children come tax time, if they live with you for over 6 monthes of the year and they do not pay more than half of their own support. How you fill out your W4 is entirely up to the taxpayer so it legal. Claim zero exeptions if you like and get a bigger refund the following year. Claim all kids on your W4 and your paychecks will be bigger and your refund smaller. I personally claim all my 4 exeptions, gettting a bigger paycheck and put the proceeds or increase in check in the bank to draw interest, rather than claim 1 or zero exemptions and let the IRS save my money for me.

Answer 5

What you put of W4 is to tell your employer how much taxes they should withhold from your pay check. If you did not claim dependents on your W4, it only means that your with holdings are more than that were required. In that case, you should receive a tax refund when you file your return.

Your tax return is where you calculate your actual tax liability. On your tax return you must put the correct information-- your filing status, your dependents, your other deductions.

Answer 6

I think you mean w4, and Im pretty sure that it is legal, my understanding is that the w4 is just to let the govt. know how much they can take without hurting you financially, so you can claim no depend. or several, as long as you claim correctly when filing your taxes.

Answer 7

You can claim whatever you want on your W-4. It does not have to match what you actually claim on your 1040.