Adjust w-4 to pay no taxes.

[pschultz]

I’m retired with a NY State pension, my wife is retired with a NY State Teachers pension. We both work part time. How do we adjust our W-4s to pay no federal income taxes?

[carolineb]

Congratulations on your semi-retirement! There is a way to claim exempt from federal taxes on the W-4 for your part time jobs by writing "Exempt" under the box on line 4(c), however, it is not legal to do so if you had a federal tax liability on your 2021 return. You will probably need to continue to have federal taxes withheld from your part time jobs since your pensions are also taxable at the federal level. 

[pschultz]

Thanks, I think I was unclear with my question. We owe significant taxes at the end of the year and would like to avoid this large lump sum payment. Do we need to use the W-4 calculator to figure what our monthly withholding should be to break even?

[Corrlich44]

Yes