Can I still claim myself as a dependent with new W4 form?

Wait so if the new W4 doesn't have allowances anymore, does that mean more or less tax comes out of my paycheck compared to when I claimed "1" on the old form? I'm confused because I always thought claiming "1" meant I got more money in my pocket each month.

The impact on your take-home pay depends on your specific situation rather than a direct "more or less" comparison to the old system. Under the old system, claiming "1" did reduce your withholding somewhat compared to "0," but the new form is designed to be more precise based on your actual tax situation. If you're single with one job and no dependents or other complications, filling out just Step 1 (personal info) and Step 5 (signature) on the new W4 will generally result in withholding similar to claiming "2" allowances on the old form, which many single people used. The form will assume the standard deduction applies to you.

Can this taxr.ai thing actually help if I've already submitted a W4 to my employer? I think I might have filled mine out wrong last week and I'm worried about getting hit with a huge tax bill next year.

I'm suspicious of these AI tax tools. How does it protect your data? Seems risky to upload personal tax documents to some random website. Do they store your info or sell it to marketers?

Yes, it can definitely help if you've already submitted a W4! The tool will analyze your situation and tell you if you should submit a new W4 to your employer to correct any issues. You can submit a new W4 anytime your situation changes or if you want to adjust your withholding. Regarding data protection, I had the same concern initially. They use bank-level encryption and don't store your documents after analysis. Their privacy policy is really clear that they don't sell or share your data with third parties. Plus they have a feature to analyze without even uploading documents if you prefer to just enter the information manually.

How does Claimyr actually work? Like, how do they get you to the front of the line? Seems kinda shady if they're bypassing the regular hold system that everyone else has to use.

Yeah right, nothing gets you through to the IRS quickly. I've been trying for weeks. This has to be some kind of scam to get desperate people's money. If it actually worked, everyone would be using it.

They use a system that continuously calls the IRS and navigates the phone tree for you, then connects you when they reach a human. It's completely legitimate - they're just automating the calling process that you'd otherwise have to do manually. I was skeptical too, but after wasting half a day on hold, I figured it was worth trying. The service literally paid for itself considering the work hours I would have lost staying on hold. Plus the IRS agent I spoke with gave me some tax advice that will save me way more than what the service cost.

What's the age cutoff for parents claiming you as a dependent? I turned 24 this year and my mom still wants to claim me even though I've been living on my own and paying all my own bills for the past year.

For students, your parents can claim you as a dependent until you're 24 as long as you're enrolled at least part-time and they provide more than half of your financial support. If you're living completely independently and paying all your own bills, it sounds like you don't qualify as their dependent anymore. This is something you should definitely clarify with your mom because if you claim yourself on your tax return and she also claims you as a dependent, it will trigger issues with the IRS for both of you.

Any idea how to tell if the withholding is "right" though? Like what percentage of your paycheck should typically go to federal taxes? I just got my first paycheck and they took about 22% for federal tax which seems high?

22% does sound high for federal withholding alone! For most single people with standard situations, federal withholding is usually closer to 12-15% of gross pay. A few things could be happening: 1) Make sure that 22% is just federal tax and not including Social Security (6.2%) and Medicare (1.45%) which are separate, 2) Your employer might have defaulted to withholding as if you're married filing separately or at a higher tax bracket, or 3) there could be an error in how they processed your W4. I'd definitely bring your paystub to HR and ask them to walk through the withholding calculation with you. Better to catch this early than get a huge refund next year (which means you're giving the government an interest-free loan of your money).

This is super helpful! I just started my first job out of college too and was totally overwhelmed by all the tax stuff. One quick question - you mentioned using the IRS withholding calculator to double-check things. Do you remember roughly how long it takes to go through that calculator? I'm worried it might be one of those government websites that takes forever to navigate and asks for a million pieces of information I don't have yet since I'm so new to all this.

The IRS withholding calculator is actually pretty user-friendly! It usually takes about 10-15 minutes to complete, and you don't need a ton of documentation to get started. You'll mainly need your most recent paystub, your last year's tax return (if you filed one), and basic info about your filing status and any dependents. Since you're just starting out, you might not have your last year's return if your parents claimed you previously, but that's okay - the calculator can work with just your current job information. It will ask things like your pay frequency, how much has been withheld so far this year, and your expected annual salary. The nice thing is that it gives you specific recommendations at the end, like "submit a new W4 with $X in additional withholding per paycheck" or "your current withholding looks good." Way better than guessing!

You're absolutely on the right track, Samuel! Starting simple with just the basic sections is exactly what I did when I was in your position. One small tip that helped me feel more confident: when you get your first paycheck, don't just look at the federal tax withholding amount - also check that it makes sense as a percentage of your gross pay. For someone in a typical entry-level situation, you'd expect federal withholding to be roughly 10-12% of your gross pay (not counting Social Security and Medicare taxes which are separate). If it's way higher or lower than that range, it might be worth a quick check with HR or using that IRS calculator everyone mentioned. But honestly, you sound like you've got a good plan - the new W4 really is much more straightforward once you get past the initial confusion about it being different from the old system!

This is such a helpful thread! I'm in the exact same boat as you all - just graduated and started my first full-time job last month. The whole W4 thing had me stressed because I kept looking for that old "1" allowance box that my friends from previous years told me about. It's actually kind of a relief to know that the "claiming yourself" concept is completely gone now and I don't have to figure out some complicated allowance calculation. I did exactly what you and Samuel mentioned - just filled out the basic personal info and signature sections, and my withholding seems reasonable so far. My HR person also mentioned they have a lot of new grads going through this same confusion, so it's nice to know we're not alone in finding this transition confusing! Thanks for sharing that tip about asking HR for help - I didn't even think to ask if they had resources to explain the differences.

This is exactly the kind of professional insight I was hoping to find in this thread! Thank you Emma for breaking down what that "1" allowance actually represented in dollar terms - I had no idea it was equivalent to about $4,300 worth of income reduction. That really helps me understand why the new system feels so different. Your point about student loan interest is particularly relevant for me since I'm definitely paying interest on my loans. I hadn't even considered that this might affect my W4. Would you recommend waiting until I have a few months of loan payments to see what my annual interest will be, or is there a way to estimate this for the W4 now? I'm paying about $180/month in interest currently. Also, when you mention that the new system often results in withholding similar to claiming "2" allowances on the old system, does that mean most single people with one job will end up with smaller refunds than they might expect compared to previous years? I keep hearing mixed things about whether the new system leads to bigger or smaller refunds.