what should I claim on my W4?

Question

I am single, no kids, 1 job, no one claims me, and my salary is $36,000. I have claimed 2 on my W4, will I owe taxes?

Answer 1

You didn't provide all the information needed, so I took a guess. Here are my assumptions: No other income (not even interest on a savings account), you rent (no mortgage interest or real estate tax deductions). You don't contribute to a 401K or pay any medical expenses through a pre-tax plan at work.

Based on those assumptions, you would owe $91 on your federal return. (You didn't specify a state, so I can't project that liability or overpayment.) The $91 is based on a full-year of salary in 2007. I used paycheckcity.com to estimate your paycheck and withholdings.

If my assumptions are correct (or at least close), I would advise you to keep your withholding at 2 exemptions. This way, you are not loaning the government any money and with a salary of $36,000, paying $91 on April 15th shouldn't be difficult.

Answer 2

Assuming that you don't itemize, you should get a small refund when you file your 2007 taxes if you claimed 2 allowances for the year.

For 2008, each allowance is equal to $3500 in planned deductions. If you want to continue to receive a small refund, keep claiming 2 allowances. If you don't mind owing at tax time, then claim 3 allowances. This is still assuming that you don't itemize. If you do itemize, then adjust accordingly.

You can read IRS Publication 15 for 2008 when it gets published in early January.

Answer 3

If you claim 2 dependents on your W4 but have no dependents to claim on your taxes you might end up owing cause the deduction is based on the dependents you will be claiming on you taxes as well, having said that, it all depends on what other deductions you will have on you tax return in order to know if you will owe taxes.

Answer 4

I think the more that you claim, the less taxes they will take out of each check....this could end up making you owe taxes at the end of the year. I always claim zero. They take out more taxes, but I end up with a decent sized refund, which is great because i am really bad at saving money!!

Answer 5

If that's your only income, you should owe around $100 at the end of the year.

I calculated that your tax would be $3,696, and that you probably had about $3,588 w/h from your paycheck.

That's assuming that standard deduction of $5,350 and one personal exemption for $3,200 brining your taxible income to $27,250.

If you had pre-tax deductions from your paycheck (i.e. health insurance or a 401(k) contribution) then your taxible income would be lower, and you would likely receive a refund at the end of the year.

Just put your particulars into the http://www.fincalc.com/INC_02.asp?id=12068 website, and you will be able to see what your estimated tax payments should have been for the year, and then just compair that to your paystub to see what's larger (the withholding or the tax).


I hope that helps.