Help with W-4

[pdavis547]

My husband has been claiming me as a dependent marking the box where you multiply time 500 because I have not been employed. I went back to work in August of 2024 on a very part-time basis for which they took no federal taxes out of my small paychecks. Of coarse, this now means we will owe the IRS more money because of it. I would like to work part-time but I don't want to give it all to the IRS. If I work part-time can he still claim the 500.00 credit on his W-4 or does he need to take that off?

[xmasbaby0]

 A spouse can NEVER be claimed as a dependent on an income tax return.    You should file a joint return.   Filing a joint return is almost always better even if one spouse had little or no income.

Married Filing Jointly is usually better, even if one spouse had little or no income. When you file a joint return, you and your spouse will get the married filing jointly standard deduction of $29,200 (+ $1550 for each spouse 65 or older)  for 2024. You are eligible for more credits including education credits, earned income credit, child and dependent care credit, and a larger income limit to receive the child tax credit. 

As for his W-4, by putting that $500 credit on there, he had a little more in his take home pay because he was having less withheld for tax.    If he keeps that credit on his W-4 and you do not have tax withheld, you are likely to owe more, not less.   Husband could remove that $500 credit from his W-4 and even have a bit more withheld from his paychecks to avoid owing at tax time.

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calculators/w4/ 

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/tax-withholding-estimator

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf

[pdavis547]

We do file jointly at tax time, but is it allowed that he puts the 500.00 on his W-4 form? We understand we may owe more at the end of the year, but we need more throughout the year on paychecks. I guess what I am asking is are we doing something wrong by putting that 500.00?  W-4's are confusing and we have been doing in that way for several years now. 

[xmasbaby0]

He can put the $500 on his W-4 if he wants to.   Your W-4 does not dictate how you have to file your tax return.   It is only given to the employer to affect the amount of tax withheld from your paychecks.

[pdavis547]

Thank you for the help!