Is it better claim myself exempt or dependent?

Question

When I was being processed for a job, I had to file myself as exempt or dependent. I wasn't sure whether to claim myself exempt or dependent, so i just picked exempt. Was that a bad choice? Because I am a dependent child and so is my brother.

Answer 1

If you are a dependent of your parents, you should be claiming zero allowances, not exempt.

If your total income for the year will be less than $5350 it won't make any difference. But if it goes over that, exempt is definitely not correct and will be a problem. If you already filed exempt, you can fill out a new W-4 and change it to zero.

Answer 2

Most taxpayers cannot claim EXEMPT, actually.

You should have read the W-4 instructions before you made that claim. To claim EXEMPT, you cannot have more than $850 in income if you are a dependent on another taxpayer's return. That is very plainly stated in the instructions. Most jobs will pay that much pretty quickly, meaning that you are not legally entitled to claim EXEMPT.

Also, to claim EXEMPT you are certifying under penalty of perjury that:

1. You had zero tax liability the prior year and received a refund of ALL income taxes withheld.

2. You reasonably expect to have zero tax liability this year.

Given that you are a dependent, please file a new W-4. You should file it as Single and 0 withholding allowances.

Answer 3

you do not declare something on type W-2. type W-2 is the salary and Tax fact that your organization sends or components on the tip of the year. You report a sort W-4 which comprise your organization to tell them how a lot tax to withhold out of your pay. you do not declare dependents there the two; you declare witholding allowances. on an analogous time as the kind of dependents you declare on your tax return will effect that, the two at the instant are not the comparable element. maximum single taxpayers ought to declare a million or 2 allowances in the event that they only artwork one job. in the event that they seem to be a based, then they sometimes ought to declare 0 to stay away from a tax debt at submitting time. You in no way declare your self as a based on a tax return. You get a private exemption for your self in case you will not be able to be claimed as a based, yet you in no way declare your self AS a "based."