I accidentally claimed Exempt on w-4. so obviously I'm going to owe taxes. Does that come straight out of the return?

[xmasbaby0 · Accepted solution]

If you did not have any tax withheld from your wages--you say you claimed "exempt" (which was a big mistake)--then there is nothing from which to give you a refund. You only get a refund if the taxes withheld are more than the tax you owed to the iRS.  Does box 2 of your W-2 have a zero or is it blank?  If you have a tax liability then you will owe the IRS and will need to pay by check, money order or credit card.

Going forward, do not claim to be exempt.  There could be a penalty for saying that if it is not true.

[user100041322]

Box 2 of my w2 is just blank. I've filed taxes and Turbo tax is saying I have a refund. Which isn't as much as it usually is. And I'm getting it's because of that error.

[xmasbaby0]

Are you claiming any dependents for which you are getting child-related credits like child tax credit or earned income credit?

[user100041322]

I'm claiming both child tax credit and earned income. Filing stat is head of house. Which I qualified for all tax breaks.

[fanfare]

Maybe exempt is the correct status for you. Did you work all of 2017?

[user100041322]

8 months out of 2017.

[user100041322]

I made over 15k, I don't think I'm exempt.

[xmasbaby0]

Instead of claiming exempt, you could enter extra allowances to limit how much is withheld from your paycheck,  In your case, you are OK, since you have enough  personal exemptions,  standard deduction,  & credits, etc to keep your income from being taxable.  But if your income increases, be careful about saying you are exempt.  With the new tax laws it will be interesting.  New W-4's will be coming out soon and there will be no personal exemptions.

[user100041322]

So it's likely I won't owe money?

[xmasbaby0]

You said above that you are getting a refund.  You do not owe..yay!  With your standard deduction of $9350 for HOH, personal exemptions of $4050 each  for yourself and at least one child (or more?) and CTC, EIC, you are good.  You had no taxable income at all, and you get a refund because of the EIC.

[user100041322]

Xmasbaby0 thank you!

[xmasbaby0]

You are welcome.

[Hennesy1]

Hello I recently saw your discussion which was a month ago but I'm a single person with no kids and I want to claim EXEMPT is it possible I will owe during tax time? And if so how much? Please write back somebody lol

[VolvoGirl]

You can only file exempt under special circumstances.  Not sure what they all are.  It's better to claim more allowances than you need to have less taken out.  If you make over 12,000 (the Standard Deduction for Single) you will owe tax on the amount over 12,000.  The IRS wants you to pay the tax in evenly during the year and not all at once on your tax return.   If you don't you may owe a penalty if you owe too much.