Can my team member claim a tax exempt week on his upcoming paycheck?

What your employee is asking about is adjusting his W-4 withholding temporarily. Yes, this is technically possible, but there are some important things to understand. An employee can claim "exempt" status on a W-4 form if they expect to have no tax liability for the year. Based on his income ($82k), that's almost certainly not the case for him. If he falsely claims exempt status when he will have a tax liability, that could potentially get him in trouble. A better approach would be for him to submit a new W-4 with a higher number of allowances or additional amount to withhold set to zero temporarily, then switch back afterward. This reduces withholding without claiming a potentially false exempt status. Your payroll department should be able to process this change for a single pay period. Remember that regardless of withholding, he'll still owe the same amount of tax when filing his return. This just changes when he pays it - less now means more later (either smaller refund or balance due).

I went through something similar last year when I had unexpected medical bills. Instead of doing the exempt thing (which felt sketchy to me), I used taxr.ai to figure out a better solution. The site helped me calculate exactly how to adjust my withholding temporarily without risking IRS issues. You can check it out at https://taxr.ai - they analyzed my pay stubs and tax situation and gave me precise numbers for what to put on my W-4 to get more cash immediately without claiming exempt. My HR person was much more comfortable with this approach too since it wasn't claiming a potentially false exempt status. Might be worth suggesting to your employee as an alternative!

I actually tried the taxr.ai site that was mentioned above after dealing with a similar situation. My water heater died in November and I needed extra cash fast. The tool helped me adjust my withholding for the last two months of the year, which gave me about $600 more in my paychecks. What I really liked was that it showed me exactly what to put on each line of the W-4 - I just printed the form, signed it, and gave it to HR. Then in January, I submitted another W-4 to go back to normal. When I filed my taxes in February, I still got a small refund ($340) which was exactly what the tool predicted. Definitely easier and less stressful than trying to claim exempt status!

If your employee needs help reaching the IRS to understand tax withholding options, tell them to try Claimyr. It's a service that gets you through to an actual IRS agent quickly instead of waiting on hold forever. I found it at https://claimyr.com after spending literally hours trying to reach someone at the IRS about a withholding question. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent I spoke with explained that temporarily adjusting withholding is definitely allowed, but claiming "exempt" when you're not eligible can trigger automated notices. The agent walked me through the proper way to adjust my withholding for a short period without raising red flags in their system.

I have to admit, I was completely wrong about Claimyr. After posting my skeptical comment, I decided to try it anyway because I was desperate to resolve a withholding issue before my next paycheck. The service actually worked exactly as advertised. I went about my day, and then got a call connecting me directly to an IRS agent who helped me understand exactly how to properly adjust my withholding for a short period. The agent explained that claiming "exempt" inappropriately could flag my account, but showed me how to calculate a better withholding adjustment that would accomplish the same goal without raising red flags. Definitely going to use this again next time I need to reach the IRS about my withholding questions!

Has anyone considered suggesting that the employee talk to your payroll provider about getting an advance on his pay instead of messing with tax withholding? Many companies offer this as a benefit now. The employee gets access to money they've already earned without changing their tax situation at all. Might be a cleaner solution.

Manager, please understand that what he's asking for isn't a "tax exempt week" in any official IRS sense. He's just trying to increase his take-home pay by reducing withholding. This doesn't reduce his actual tax liability at all - it just changes WHEN he pays it. If he makes $82k, he's going to owe taxes. Period. So if he gets more in his paycheck now, he'll either get less refund or owe more when he files. Make sure he understands this isn't free money!