My 16 year old daughter just got her first job 1month ago and i just noticed on her pay check that she claimed 1 and no federal taxes are being witheld from her paycheck?

[sweetlykehoney25]

Should she change her exemption to 0

[xmasbaby0 · Accepted solution]

She probably is not making enough to have taxes withheld.  Changing to "zero" might get the employer to withhold a bit.  Unless she earns over $6350 in the 2017 tax year, she is not going to owe any federal tax, and would end up getting any withholdings back anyhow.  She will not get back any of the amounts withheld for Social Security or Medicare.  IF she files a tax return for tax withheld, she needs to say she can be claimed as a dependent on someone else's tax return.  You do not put her earnings on your own return.

[SweetieJean]

State taxes may be different.

[sweetlykehoney25]

So if she files her own income tax she has to put that she can be claimed on someone eles taxes so that i can claim her ? If she doesn't earn enough does she still need to file income tax?  Will it matter if she claimed 1 when I go to claim her a dependent?

[VolvoGirl]

No it won't matter what she puts down on her W4 for work.  If she doesn't owe any tax she would still need to file if they took out any withholding to get it back.

[sweetlykehoney25]

They are only taking state out but not federal , not sure why

[xmasbaby0]

Whatever she put on her W-4 at work only affects the amount the employer withholds.  It does not dictate how her tax return (if any) has to be filed.  Her earnings will not affect your tax return at all.  As I said before, unless she earns over $6350 in 2017 she will not be required to file a return.  Her only reason to file would be to get a refund of any federal tax withheld.  Not sure what state you are in; as SweetieJean said, your state tax might be different.  But this is late in the year--it is unlikely a teenager will owe taxes for this year.  You say she just started working recently.  It's always an adventure for parents the first time their teenager has that first job and you have to deal with their income tax.

[sweetlykehoney25]

Thank you I feel a little better about this,  we live in Pa

[xmasbaby0]

You are welcome.

[LindaBelmont]

In PA, she will have to file an PA state income tax if she earns over $33.00  (yes $33) But the way PA works, her employer is taking out exactly the right amount of state income tax so although she will have to file the return, in all likelihood she will not owe any money or get a refund. PA actually has a special address to file those returns

[sweetlykehoney25]

But why aren't they taking federal out?

[xmasbaby0]

They are not taking anything out for federal because she has an exemption on her W-4and/or she is likely not earning enough for the employer to withhold any federal tax.  As explained earlier, if she wants to change that to "0" then the employer may start withholding a little federal tax. Unless she earns over $6350 in 2017, she will just get it back as a refund by filing a 2017 tax return.  So she can have a bigger paycheck now, or get some tax withheld and get a little refund later.  If she continues to work in 2018, then that may change and she should have some tax withheld.  Try this: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calculators/w4/">https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calcula...>

[SweetieJean]

Federal and PA tax laws are different.

[sweetlykehoney25]

Shouldn't they still take federal tax out even though she has a 1 and not a 0......should she change it to a 0 now because i will be claiming her at the end of the year

[xmasbaby0]

She can change it.  You are stressing about this unnecessarily.   Whether she claims "1" or "0"  on her W-4 at work has nothing whatsoever to do with your ability to claim her as your dependent when you prepare your own 2017 tax return.