Should my boyfriend list me and our baby as dependents on his w-4 for tax withholding?
So I decided to be a stay at home mom for our little one's first year and won't be making any income at all in 2025. We're trying to figure out the best way for my boyfriend to fill out his w-4 form at work. He'll definitely be claiming both me and our son on his taxes next year since I won't have any income. Does he need to put us both as dependents on his w-4 right now? Will that help with his withholding throughout the year? We're totally new to this whole dependent situation and I'm not sure what's the right way to handle it. Anyone been through this who can help?
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Grace Durand
Yes, your boyfriend should absolutely list both of you as dependents on his W-4! This will reduce the amount of tax withheld from each paycheck, which means more money in your pocket throughout the year instead of waiting for a tax refund. The W-4 form is used to tell his employer how much tax to withhold based on his expected tax situation. Since he'll be the only income earner and will be claiming two dependents (you and your child) when he files, he should update his W-4 to reflect this. On the current W-4 form, he would complete Step 1 (personal information) and then go to Step 2 if he has multiple jobs (probably not applicable). In Step 3, he can claim "credit for dependents" - this is where he would include the child tax credit amount for your child. Then in Step 4, he can make additional adjustments based on your family situation.
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Connor Richards
•Thank you so much! This is super helpful. I was confused about whether I count as a "dependent" on the W-4 since I'm an adult. Does he just put a number "2" somewhere for dependents (me and baby), or is there more to it than that?
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Grace Durand
•The W-4 form has changed in recent years, so it's not just about putting a number of dependents anymore. For your child, he would include the child tax credit amount in Step 3 (typically $2,000 per qualifying child). For you as an adult dependent, it works differently. If you'll have no income and he'll provide more than half your support, he'll benefit from the tax deduction when filing, but the W-4 doesn't have a specific line for adult dependents. Instead, he can use Step 4(b) to account for deductions including the deduction for an adult dependent, which effectively lowers his withholding. The 2025 form should have instructions on calculating this amount.
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Steven Adams
I went through this exact situation last year with my partner! I found this amazing tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that really helped us figure out the W-4 situation. I was staying home with our daughter and my partner needed to adjust his withholding. The site has this cool calculator that shows you exactly how to fill out the W-4 based on your specific situation, including having a non-working partner and children. It saved us from under-withholding, which would have meant a big tax bill at filing time. The explanations were super clear about how to handle adult dependents vs. child dependents on the form.
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Alice Fleming
•Does taxr.ai actually give you the specific dollar amounts to put on each line of the W-4? My husband and I are expecting and I'll be staying home next year, so we'll be in the same boat.
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Hassan Khoury
•I'm kinda skeptical about these online tools. How accurate is it compared to just asking an accountant? Won't your boyfriend's HR department just tell him how to fill it out?
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Steven Adams
•Yes, it actually does give you the specific dollar amounts for each line of the W-4. It asks about your family situation, income, and filing status, then calculates exactly what to put on each line. It was a huge help because the form isn't intuitive at all. Most HR departments won't give tax advice - they usually just hand you the form and say "fill this out." When I asked our HR, they specifically said they weren't allowed to give tax guidance. That's why we needed something that could explain it in plain English.
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Alice Fleming
Just wanted to update after trying taxr.ai for our W-4 situation! I was really impressed with how easy it made everything. My husband was about to just put "2" in the old dependents box (which doesn't even exist on the new form lol) but the tool walked us through exactly what to put where. It showed us that with me staying home and the baby, he needed to adjust Step 3 and Step 4 differently than we thought. The best part was seeing the estimated refund/owe amount change in real-time as we adjusted things. We're going to come within $100 of breaking even instead of getting a huge refund, which means more money in our monthly budget when we'll need it most with the baby!
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Victoria Stark
If your boyfriend is having trouble getting his W-4 right and needs to call the IRS for guidance, I highly recommend using Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I spent HOURS trying to get through to the IRS about a similar dependent situation on my W-4 last year, and it was impossible to get a human on the phone. Claimyr got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes when I had been trying for days on my own. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. The IRS agent walked me through exactly how to complete the W-4 with my non-working spouse and two kids, and how to account for all the credits properly.
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Benjamin Kim
•How does this even work? Like, isn't the IRS phone line just always busy no matter what? How could this service possibly get you through when no one else can?
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Hassan Khoury
•This sounds like a scam honestly. Why would I pay money for something I can do myself for free? The IRS has free resources on their website that explain how to fill out a W-4.
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Victoria Stark
•It works because they use technology that continuously calls the IRS and navigates the phone tree for you. When they get a human on the line, they connect that call to your phone. So instead of you having to redial a hundred times, their system does the work. The IRS website is helpful for basic situations, but when you have specific questions about adult dependents versus child dependents on a W-4, talking to an actual agent can save you from making mistakes. I spent hours reading the IRS instructions and still wasn't sure how to handle my specific situation. The 15-minute call saved me from potentially owing hundreds at tax time.
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Hassan Khoury
I'm back and need to apologize for being so skeptical about Claimyr. After struggling for THREE DAYS trying to get through to the IRS about our dependent situation (kept getting disconnected after waiting 45+ minutes), I broke down and tried it. Got connected to an IRS rep in 12 minutes!!! The agent explained that for W-4 purposes, we needed to handle the child dependent differently than the adult dependent. For our situation, we needed to make adjustments in both Step 3 and Step 4 to get the withholding right. Honestly was worth every penny just for the stress relief. My boyfriend's paychecks are now $127 higher each month because he was over-withholding before. That's going to make a huge difference for our baby budget.
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Samantha Howard
Just a heads up - while your boyfriend can claim you both as dependents if you have no income, make sure he adjusts his withholding appropriately. My sister was in this exact situation and her husband didn't withhold enough, so they got hit with a huge tax bill and an underpayment penalty. The W-4 calculator on the IRS website is actually pretty good for figuring this out: https://apps.irs.gov/app/tax-withholding-estimator Also, if you think you might go back to work partway through the year, he might need to adjust his W-4 again at that point to avoid underwithholding.
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Connor Richards
•Thanks for the warning! Do you know if there's a certain income threshold where I would no longer qualify as his dependent? I might do some very part-time work from home later in the year.
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Samantha Howard
•Yes, there is definitely an income threshold! For 2025, if you make more than $4,400 (this may be adjusted slightly for inflation), you wouldn't qualify as his dependent. The baby would still qualify regardless of your income. If you do start working part-time, your boyfriend should definitely redo his W-4 at that point. You might also need to fill out your own W-4 very carefully to avoid underwithholding across your combined income. The IRS calculator I linked is particularly good for two-income households.
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Megan D'Acosta
Has anyone mentioned the filing status yet? He should be filing as Head of Household, not Single, if he's claiming dependents! This makes a HUGE difference in tax brackets and standard deduction.
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Grace Durand
•This isn't quite right. He would only qualify as Head of Household if he's claiming a qualifying person (like their child) AND he pays more than half the cost of keeping up the home where the qualifying person lives. However, he can't claim Head of Household based on claiming his girlfriend as a dependent. Since they're not married, he'd likely file as Single and claim both his girlfriend and their child as dependents on his return. The child would give him the possibility of Head of Household status, not the adult dependent girlfriend.
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Sean O'Donnell
One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is that you should also consider setting aside some money for next year's taxes even with the adjusted withholding. When you have dependents and are the sole income earner, sometimes the withholding calculations don't account for all the nuances of your specific situation. My partner and I were in a similar spot two years ago - I stayed home with our twins and he adjusted his W-4. Even though we followed all the guidance, we still ended up owing about $800 at tax time because of some credits that didn't get factored in properly to the withholding. Now we just put an extra $50-75 per month into a separate savings account as a tax buffer. It's given us so much peace of mind, and if we don't need it for taxes, it just becomes extra savings for the family. Better to be prepared than get surprised with a big bill when you're already stretching the budget with a new baby!
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