What whould I claim on my W4?

Question

I am married and work full time. My wife also works full time in the military. We don't have any kids yet(one on the way. Due in Jan. :)) and we just don't know what to claim on our w4s. I recieve about 2240 before taxes and she gets 1790 plus 294 for BAS and 1233 for BAH. We don't want to owe anything to the government and we really don't care about having a big return. So what shoud I do.

Answer 1

Being married, you are both entitled to claim two exemptions on your W-4.  If you claim less, more than likely will receive a tax refund.  If you claim more, you will more than likely owe taxes at the end of the year and you may also face the possibility of incurring a penalty for underpayment of your taxes because of this.  I would suggest that you take no more than two exemptions on each of your W-4's.

Answer 2

You'd be wise to both claim zero allowances, and married but withhold at the higher single rate for the rest of this year.  Once the baby comes, you can change that since you'll have not only another exemption but also a child tax credit.