W4 form help

[mc186282]

I am living with my partner and we have a child together. We agreed that we would take turns claiming him so we don’t argue about this. I forgot to take my child as a dependent off for this year since my partner was going to claim him therefore now I owe. We go to a tax preparer and she advised us that we should both remove any dependents from W4 form as this will give us both tax refunds. I was questioning my partner about this as if I do this I feel I would not take home a good pay check and they would deduct more taxes. Is this true? Should we both remove all depends off W4 form? In addition, last year our tax preparer advised whoever will be claiming my child for the year should file as Head of Household and put only $500 in the dependent section instead of 2,000. It seems as if her answer changes every year as to what we should be doing and I am very confused. I will be claiming my son next year therefore unsure if i should file as single or head of household and if i should remove my son as a dependent or keep the $2,000 in there for him. I am also pretty confused on if i should be putting anything in the allowance part as she advised us to put zero as well.

[xmasbaby0]

If you are a non-married couple who live together with your child, then only one of you can claim the child(ren) and the one not claiming the child does not enter anything at all on their tax return about the child.   The “sharing” of child-related credits you may have heard about is only possible between divorced or never married parents who live apart and share custody and who have a written agreement to share the credits.    The child’s SSN can only be entered on one tax return.   Any other return with the child’s SSN on it will be rejected.   If you are a family, then work out how to share the refund between yourselves.

[SharonD007]

She isn't referring to removing your child as a dependent on your tax return.  I think she's referring to not claiming a dependent on your W-4 Form as an allowance.  However, the W-4 Form was changed and when allowances were part of the W-4 form, the maximum amount of taxes would be withheld from your paychecks when you claimed 0.

With the new system, you’ll indicate whether you need to withhold more or less than the standard amount. If you have 0 dependents and adjustments, the standard amount will be withheld from your paychecks. 

you’ll receive less money on your paychecks, you should have a lower tax bill at the end of the year.

Refer to the TurboTax Blog Understanding Your Withholding Allowance on Your Form W-4 and What Is a W-4 Form? for more information.