A friend of mine is going to do this temporarily, he currently claims Zero. Is this legal? What are the consequences?
2007-11-08 19:20:56 · 9 answers · asked by WShay 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Taxes ➔ United States
You can only claim exempt if you expect to have no tax liability for the year. However, you can claim 10 exemptions and probably have the same effect.
This is legal to do as long as you don't end up owing more than $1000 when you file your taxes.
The reason that this is being done is that he is expecting a tax refund and he wants to get some of that money now.
2007-11-10 00:59:09 · answer #1 · answered by Steve 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
By the way "exempt" is not the same as claiming 0. You can only claim exempt if you meet the criteria on the form (no income tax the year before and expect to owe zero this year).
Exempt is when zero income taxes are withheld. Think of it as the equivalent of claiming 99 withholding allowances.
Most single people put down 2. If all they have in wage income and it's less than $40,000, they will probably come out fairly even at the end of the year (small refund or small balance due).
As you get a higher income or have income from interest and dividends, then you pick a lower number like 1 or 0. More money is withheld. (Alternately, you can ask for payroll to withhold, say, $100 a pay period on top of the 2.) If you have a second job, put 1 on each or 0 on one of them.
And finally, people who routinely play games with their W-4 may find that their employer has received a "lock in" letter from the IRS stating that their W-4 can have no more than 3 allowances.
2007-11-08 20:45:00 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
You may only legally claim EXEMPT on Form W-4 if you meet the requirements explicitly stated on the form. That is, you must have had $0 tax liability last year AND reasonably expect to have $0 tax liability this year as well. If you don't meet that criteria, you may NOT claim EXEMPT under any circumstances. Doing so is fraudulent and can attract a $500 administrative penalty.
What you CAN legally do is adjust your withholding allowances as needed to make sure that only the correct amount of tax is withheld during the year. If you discover late in the year that far too much has been withheld for your estimated liability (say you took a cut in pay or took a lower paying job) there's nothing that says you cannot jack your allowances high enough to stop any further withholding. That is PERFECTLY LEGAL so long as enough is withheld to cover within $1,000 or 90% of your tax liability for the year OR 100% of LAST year's liability.
2007-11-09 01:56:20 · answer #3 · answered by Bostonian In MO 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Claiming 0 is legal. That is what I claim so I will get more money back at the end of the year.You can change your your W-4's any time just by asking for a new W-4 to sign from your employer. Consequences are none, they will just take a different amt. out during the time when you have filed different W-4's. It will all add up when you file your taxes. Of course, when you claim exempt they don't take any out, but they have regulations about exempt.
2007-11-08 19:35:05 · answer #4 · answered by sporsterhippy59 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
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RE:
Can I temporarily claim exempt on my W-4 and then change it back in about a month?
A friend of mine is going to do this temporarily, he currently claims Zero. Is this legal? What are the consequences?
2015-08-08 05:02:19 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No it is not legal to claim exempt if he pays any income tax. He can change his allowances, say to 3 if he is single, and reduce the withholding in that manner. He should claim enough allowances so that his balance due on his tax return is less than $1,000.
The consequences for doing this for one month are probably nothing, but he should not play games like this with his W-4 or he may find himself paying penalties for underwithholding of tax.
2007-11-08 21:38:53 · answer #6 · answered by ninasgramma 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You can claim whatever you want on your W-4. All this does is tell the payroll company how much to withhold from your checks. It's what you claim when filing your taxes that matters.
But keep this in mind. If you claim 0 when you should claim something else, then you will be getting less per paycheck. And if you overpaid by too much, you can be subject to a penalty.
On the other hand, if you claim more exemptions than you will on your taxes, your paychecks will be bigger but you may wind up paying (more) taxes at the end of the year.
2007-11-08 19:26:41 · answer #7 · answered by Justin H 7 · 0⤊ 4⤋
It is perfectly legal, its just going to change the amount of taxes you pay for that paycheck while it is changed. Ideally you would be best off to estimate how much you need to pay in taxes for a year, (maybe look at last year's taxes), and change your W-4 and leave it so you pay just enough in taxes. This way you will get to keep as much money as possible each month but you won't get a big refund at the end of the year. There is no point in letting the U.S. Government borrow your money interest free for the year!
2007-11-08 19:24:14 · answer #8 · answered by when and how 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Well, it isn't necessarily illegal, because if you do the wrong thing you end up owing a penalty at the end of the year.
It may be unwise, because you may end up owing a penalty at the end of the year.
Also, making such switches may arise the suspicion of the IRS, and bring on a friendly audit!!
2007-11-08 19:25:33 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
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2014-07-26 06:55:39 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋