W4 question. Married, both make about the same, having first child in Aug 2017. Married and single rate? Claim 0 or 1? One claim married the other single rate?

[rjs · Accepted solution]

All bets are off right now. The new tax law for 2018 eliminates personal exemptions, including exemptions for dependents, so having a child will not change your tax. The new W-4 form for 2018 is not available yet. The IRS has said that they will provide some guidance for 2018 withholding sometime in January. Your best course right now is to do nothing and wait. Don't make any changes to your W-4s. You'll have to make some adjustments after the new withholding information is available. See the following link on the IRS web site for more information.

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-statement-withholding-for-2018

[rjs]

On further reflection, it's not exactly true that having a child will not change your tax under the new law. You probably will be eligible for the child tax credit if your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) is under $400,000 for married filing jointly. How this will affect withholding and how it will be reflected on the W-4 is unknown at this time. So I still stand by my advice to sit tight and do nothing right now.

[briannagan]

Thanks, we’re both just claiming 0 right now but I’ve yet to switch it to “married withhold as single,” Should we both do that and still claim 0?

[rjs]

I would do nothing right now. No matter what you do, you'll almost certainly have to make changes once the withholding information and the W-4 for 2018 are available. Whatever you have now is just temporary until the new rules come out. So don't agonize over it. Just relax, enjoy the holidays, and deal with withholding later in January.

[briannagan]

Legit that sounds good

[briannagan]

Thanks