TTMA W4 exemptions

[baytosa2013]

So I pretty much never changed mine...even when I got married.  I decided to finally look in to it this year since the baby and want to take more exemptions to have more money in our checks each month.  Any pros/cons to that other than you don't want to take so many that you have to pay?  We did an online calculator thing and I'm "hoping" its correct because it will give us an extra $400 a month, holy crap I should have done this 6 months ago!

How many to take filing married with the one kiddo?

HALP!

[veggiemo]

If I'm understanding carrots correctly, we do the same. H and I are on payroll as unmarried but we file jointly. A little more gets taken out of our paychecks but overall it gets us a bigger return that's worth it in the end.

[baytosa2013]

We don't use an accountant and we both make in the same range. I'm about 10k less than him. He had his at married 1 but taking out at the single rate and I was at single 1. We are getting a large check back which is ok but I'd prefer to have that in my check monthly than having to wait all year to get it back.

[baytosa2013]

Thanks guys! I think that's what we'll do. There's a calculator on the irs page so we'll see what's being taken out once we make the change and calculate it based off 2015's tax bill and adjust later if we need to.

[dmoney]

We file jointly as married, so i want to say we each have 2. I also have an addition $10 for state and federal because a few years ago my employer never took anything out and i ended up owing a great deal. Last year we got back about 6500, this year because of the baby we should get back that plus a bit more since DH has been unemployed since last March. It does suck to have a little bit less each pay check but as long as our bills are getting paid, it is nice to get a larger check in the mail and be able to put half of it away for savings and to spend the other half paying off bills or taking a nice vacation. This year we will be using all of it to be paying off credit card bills but my student loans will also be paid in full at the end of March so that right there is a little bit more money in our pockets every month.

[holliberry28]

I'm confused, I thought if you file for 2 exemptions, they take out less money?

We were filing single at a married rate and 0, now I changed it to married and 2, H put married and 1. I'm tired of loaning money to the govt interest fee. If we have to pay a shitload, then we'll reassess next year.

[stinybean]

I only updated my w4 a few weeks ago and came up with 4 exemptions. DH doesn't work. Does this seem really wrong? I'm worried that I'm overexempting. I do not have an accountant.

[baytosa2013]

Yes our goal was to get more money in our take home each month versus waiting till march for a refund. We ended up doing my DH at married 1 and me at married 3 based on the irs calculations. We decided to do more for me because my DH takes a lot out of his check for insurance, retirement and a 401k loan where I only have retirement.