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New Member
posted Jun 5, 2019 10:27:11 PM

I am wondering why I would owe money. Looking at my w-4 it says exempt and I don't know why or what that means

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1 Replies
Intuit Alumni
Jun 5, 2019 10:27:14 PM

If you entered exempt on your W-4, you were telling your employer they were not to withhold any taxes on your income. W-4 is merely a guide for your employer. 

You have two meet two qualifications to be able to do this, the most important being "This year I expect a refund of all federal income tax withheld because I expect to have no tax liability".

You do not have to do anything on Turbotax to indicate this. If there were no taxes withheld and you now have a tax liability, you should not have claimed exempt. If you were correct, there is no tax liability and any refund you will get would be from refundable credits. In either case, merely file your return regardless of the number of exemptions claimed on W-4

Below is a link to Form W-4. 

 

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