Should I claim 0 federal taxes withheld on my W2 if I work full time and my husband is on social security?

[officelyn58]

I have always received a refund until this year. Last year my husband was on Social Security Disability and I still received a refund but this year I end up paying them. I am just trying to avoid having to pay them a lot of money.

[ChristieB · Accepted solution]

You should always enter your W-2 information into TurboTax exactly as it appears. The IRS receives this information as well, and the two need to match exactly.

Going forward, I would use this information to file a new W-4 with your employer. The more exemptions that are claimed on this form, the less tax is withheld. By reducing the number of exemptions on this form so that more tax is withheld each pay period, you can avoid owing large sums of money in future tax years. 

[officelyn58]

I am claiming only 1 now. With new tax law changes that is what hurt us this year I think. So if I claim 0 and if my husband should work part-time at any time this year with being on social security should he also claim 0? Or should he just have social security withhold some money for federal?

[ChristieB]

Yes, changing the number of exemptions to 0 from those sources would increase your withholding. You may also choose to have an additional dollar amount withheld from each pay period using line 6 of the W-4.

Any of the steps you suggested should help you to reduce the burden of a large dollar amount owed at tax time.

TurboTax has a W-4 withholding calculator that might be helpful in determining which steps would best suit your needs:

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calculators/w4/">https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calcula...>

[officelyn58]

Thanks so much for your help 🙂

[ChristieB]

You are very welcome!