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KEarnhardt · Oct 23, 2007, 11:14 AM

I'm not sure if I have EVER filled out a w-4 correctly now that I have read some instructions online. I never really knew how, I just guessed. Now I am married and have a child and am TOTALLY confused. Here are my questions:

If I claimed my son on my w-4, my husband cannot claim him, right?

Do my husband and I both have to fill out the "two earner" part of page 2?

Regarding page 2, I tried filling that out and it was so confusing with all the adding and muliplying and dividing, and THEN it told me to put my final answer ($200) in the box on page 1 for additional witholdings. What if I don't want to take extra money out? Do I have a choice? And if they are taking an extra $200 out, is this EVERY paycheck??

Also, after filling out page 2, it had me change my total # on page 1 and that didn't make sense to me.

Heeeeelllllllllppppppp!! :confused: :confused:

AtlantaTaxExpert · Oct 24, 2007, 06:56 AM

No, you can BOTH claim him, but it will probably result in not enough money being withheld to cover your joint tax liability, which, given the fact that ANY refund is an interest-free loan to the government, may NOT be a bad thing.

Yes, you BOTH need to fill ut the "two earner" part.

Again, you do NOT have to have the extra money taken out. But you DO want to make sure enough is withheld to cover your tax bill when the tax return is filed.

Tell you what: tell me your combined income for 2007, how many children you have, their ages, where you live and how much you pay each month on your mortgage, and I will do an estimate on what you will owe for tax year 2007. It will not be 100% accurate, but it will be a good ball park figure.

You can email the information to the email address below.

ScottGem · Oct 24, 2007, 07:05 AM

The purpose of the W4 is to allow you to adjust the amount of witholding being taken out of your paycheck. The goal of using a W4 is get your witholding to a point where, when you file your tax return, your refund is minimal. The idea here is that the withheld amounts are essentially an interest free loan from you to Uncle Sam.

You want to make sure your withholding is not so low that you are legally underwithheld (meaning you own more than $1000 when you file) nor so high, that you get a huge refund, since that's loaning money to the government interest free.

The way I estimate it, is 1 exemption for each family member and one more if you own your home. If you are paying high taxes and interest on your mortgage you might add another exemption.