BMW Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 1. If dh claimed 9 children and myself this past year then taxes were not taken out of his paychecks or the taxes were much less, right? 2. If he claimed all of us, and paid less in taxes, made more money, then does he have to pay back what would have been taken out to begin with? 3. If he claims us for his paychecks and uses us as deductions, why would he have to pay taxes? Wouldn't he not have to pay it back because we are his dependants? It seems to me that if he has less taxes taken out so that he can support his family, he wouldn't be stuck with a big tax bill once a year... Am I understanding this or am I clueless? Thanks, dh is just really afraid that he is going to owe a lot in taxes because he claimed us and I am thinking that if he claims us and supports us, why would he have to pay it back? Bee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shenan Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 1. If dh claimed 9 children and myself this past year then taxes were not taken out of his paychecks or the taxes were much less, right? 2. If he claimed all of us, and paid less in taxes, made more money, then does he have to pay back what would have been taken out to begin with? 3. If he claims us for his paychecks and uses us as deductions, why would he have to pay taxes? Wouldn't he not have to pay it back because we are his dependants? It seems to me that if he has less taxes taken out so that he can support his family, he wouldn't be stuck with a big tax bill once a year... Am I understanding this or am I clueless? Thanks, dh is just really afraid that he is going to owe a lot in taxes because he claimed us and I am thinking that if he claims us and supports us, why would he have to pay it back? Bee :confused: It depends on what tax bracket you are in. The more money you make the higher the tax bracket. The less money you make the lower you are on the tax bracket. IMHO..unless you are making well into the 6 figures, I would not think you are going to get hammered with a huge tax bill. We have 6 kids and dh makes a decent wage (it pays the bills but there are no frills) and the child tax credit leaves us doing the happy dance every year.:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stacim Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 I am not sure that I fully understand your question, but... What he claims at work on his W-4 doesn't change the amount of tax that is ultimately owed. Your tax liability is your tax liability whether the money is deducted from his paycheck or paid on April 15th. The W-4 worksheet is pretty accurate and I would recommend filling that out to figure out what number of exemptions he should claim at work. The exemption amount for each person claimed is $3,500 for 2008. Sounds like you will have 11 exemptions (you, dh, and 9 children), which comes to $38,500. That amount will be deducted from his gross earnings. Other deductions (mortgage interest, charitable contributions, property tax, etc.) will further reduce the amount of taxable income. Depending on income level, you may also be eligible for some child tax credit $$$ as well. Any money that was taken out of his paycheck will be subtracted from the amount of tax owed, and then once any relevant taxes are added in, you will either end up with a refund or will have an additional amount to pay. I don't know if this is helping or making it more confusing, but the bottom line is that the advantage of having the money taken out of the paycheck is so that you don't have a large tax liability come tax time. If you are receiving large refunds each year, then you can increase the number of exemptions claimed at work to reduce the amount of money taken out each paycheck and increase the amount of take-home pay. If you end up owing each year, you should reduce the number of exemptions so that a bit more will be taken out of each check. HTH! ~Staci Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMW Posted February 1, 2009 Author Share Posted February 1, 2009 Thanks, Staci, that does help. I was not thinking of it correctly and that clears it up... I am afraid that he made a lot more than he ever has previously and we are concerned about tax brackets... guess we'll find out soon enough... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plansrme Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 keep in mind that the amount withheld is calculated as a percentage of each check. Therefore, if you make more, more will be withheld. If your withholding status hasn't changed and you haven't previously owed additional taxes in April, a modest increase in pay isn't likely to change that result. As income gets significantly higher (6 figures), the withholding charts get less and less accurate, especially for dual income families, and you're much more likely to have to pay more than has been withheld during the year. Terri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMW Posted February 1, 2009 Author Share Posted February 1, 2009 Prior to last year, dh was dad of 3 children, claiming 4, making less than 6 figures. Last year, dh had 9 children and a wife and claimed all of us and made 6 figures (I am guessing about 115). I have no income. So, it seems like he made enough that we wont have credits for the children, but we will have the 3500.00 credit for each of us... we hope we aren't going to have a substantial bill... although we make that amount, we have a high mortgage and live with a very tight budget, no frills... and I mean that... no frills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stacim Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 You're welcome! Glad that made sense. If you are anxious and want to get an idea of where you are at, you could use this estimator offered by Turbo Tax. :) ~Staci Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plansrme Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 That is different from a credit, but it's still a big deduction. Terri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 (edited) I am not sure I understand your question, but we have 9 dependents this year ( oldest is 20). We don't pay in any federal tax out of our regular income, but did have tax taken out of DH's annual bonus. With the child tax credits and additional child tax credits we got a large refund even though we only had a relatively small amount of tax taken out. Edited after I read your last post. I think even with your income with the # of children you will still get some credit for the child tax and additonal child tax and should still recieve a "refund." Edited February 1, 2009 by Quiver0f10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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