Should I claim 0 or 1?

[waiwai25]

I (f23) want to get the most out of my refund. I do not own any property besides a car I purchased last year (I don't know how taxes work on vehicles). I live in an apartment with my partner and my roommate. Please explain it like I'm five

 

[opova]

@waiwai25 Do you understand what makes up your Refund?

 

[waiwai25]

@opova I read a little bit and do now.

 

[justbrowsingsearching]

@waiwai25 all claiming a dependent does is increase ur raw paycheck so that u have more money to spend for ur dependents, so if u want more money per paycheck, claim 1.

the amt of tax u pay yearly does not change

 

[pleaseprayformeplz]

@waiwai25 The w4 doesn't change your tax liability. It's just about how much you are prepaying.

The new federal w4 no longer has allowances. Is this a state form you are filling out?

If you are doing the federal form, and are single with 1 job, put Single on the form. Sign and submit.

 

[waiwai25]

@pleaseprayformeplz To be honest I’m not entirely sure haha do you mind if I send you a picture of the screen I’m on? Taxes aren’t something I really understand

 

[opova]

@waiwai25 The W4 has instructions, have you read them?

 

[waiwai25]

@opova So kind of. From my understanding basically claiming 1 means I take home more initially and claiming 0 means it comes back at tax time. I just feel like there’s still more to it than I’m understanding

 

[geoffe]

@waiwai25 "Claiming 1/0" is no longer a thing on the W-4...

 

[waiwai25]

@geoffe It’s still on the company website for me to fill out. Don’t know why or if it matters

 

[geoffe]

@waiwai25 Then your company is extremely behind, because they got rid of that nearly 4 years ago.

(Assuming we're talking about federal taxes; some states are still using allowances)

The proper number of allowances with someone single, with no other sources of income, no credits, no deductions (besides standard) was 2.

 

[waiwai25]

@geoffe It is indeed federal by their setup. And their website is veryyyy dated so it makes sense lmao

 

[pleaseprayformeplz]

@waiwai25 Yes, send me a screenshot of the screen. It is odd they are still using allowances for federal

 

[waiwai25]

Yay to the Oklahoma public education system ! Hoorah

 

[gratify]

@waiwai25 Being an adult is about figuring out how to do things you don’t know how to do. You learned those skills in school, apply them here.

 

[waiwai25]

@gratify I didn’t learn it well haha that’s why I’m trying to learn from yall we gain knowledge from the experience of others just as much as from a book.

 

[betreshalephshinyadtaw]

@waiwai25 The federal W4 form does not affect how much you pay in taxes each year. You total income and deductions do. The W4 form is used to determine how much is withheld from each paycheck.

A couple of questions you need to answer for yourself are do you have more than one job or source of second income such as investments? Could the total of investments and/or salary put you in a higher tax bracket?

Generally selecting 0 will cause you to withhold more and provide a refund at years end. Selecting 1 could cause you to owe some at the end of the year.

If you have unearned income such as investments and under withhold you could be subject to penalty for under withholding.

There are several web sites that would be helpful. You should do some reading to at minimum have a basic understanding of taxes in general.

Not to complicate the situation further, depending on the state you are in, state taxes can add an additional layer.

 

[jacob9]

@waiwai25 In most basic form, the amount of taxes you pay is determined by your income, not by how many you claim on your W4. Claiming more dependents on your W4 takes less out each paycheck, therefore less towards any potential refund of overpayment; claiming less dependents will pay less on paycheck but more towards any potential refund on taxes. Again, your tax liability doesn’t change, just if you paid too much over the year. Which is lending the government your money.

Generally, the goal should be to get a refund of 0 or owing/refund of a small amount.

 

[jacobtherunner]

@waiwai25 As an FYI, you’ll need to pay registration on your car (likely yearly), this is a state thing and completely separate from the W4.

 

[waiwai25]

@jacobtherunner Thank you. I was unaware of if they meant “property” as anything other than land.