Is this cheating on taxes, and why? (calculate, refund, deduction)

[grouse789]

Family of 5 married claiming 7 state, 9 federal January through November. In December they change the dependents to 5 federal 5 state. Earning $140,000.
His reason is that he won't get "caught" that way.
I earn the same, have same family size and claim 6 state, 7federal. I don't change my allowances in December, and have never had a problem. I get very little back in taxes.
Ok, ready? Go!

[mathjak107]

Withholding is up to you ...if you don’t pay in in enough there is interest and penalties.

It has nothing to do with your actual taxes you file

[NewbieHere]

They will pay eventually, but it’s not cheating.

[grouse789]

Welp, that was easy. Ty

[athena53]

I used to withhold for 10 throughout the year even though I was a single mother. I was in NJ and had a big mortgage and high property taxes (which were all deductible back then). I nearly always got a refund.

[fishbrains]

Not cheating, as long as you declare the correct number of deductions on your annual taxes when you file.

You may owe a large amount because you took too many exemptions during the year, but that is your problem.

[anononcty]

Originally Posted by fishbrains

Not cheating, as long as you declare the correct number of deductions on your annual taxes when you file.

You may owe a large amount because you took too many exemptions during the year, but that is your problem.

Exactly. Also if one has to pay themselves at least send an estimated tax form and payment. Send something because come up short there are penalties.

[reed303]

Be aware that the IRS is in the process of issuing a re-designed Form W-4 for 2020. It will no longer use "exemptions", but will directly calculate a dollar amount to be withheld.

A draft of the new form, and more details, can be seen here:
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/fw4--dft.pdf

EDIT: actually the new form and instructions has been released at:
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf

[fishbrains]

Originally Posted by reed303

Be aware that the IRS is in the process of issuing a re-designed Form W-4 for 2020. It will no longer use "exemptions", but will directly calculate a dollar amount to be withheld.

A draft of the new form, and more details, can be seen here:
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/fw4--dft.pdf

EDIT: actually the new form and instructions has been released at:
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf

Thanks for the info. Long overdue. I have been doing this already by manually estimating my tax liability and calculating the number of exemptions I should claim. It was a backwards way of determining withholding, but worked for me.

The only thing this new form seems not to do is calculate the necessary withholding for self employment tax if one spouse is self-employed.

[reed303]

Originally Posted by fishbrains

Thanks for the info. Long overdue. I have been doing this already by manually estimating my tax liability and calculating the number of exemptions I should claim. It was a backwards way of determining withholding, but worked for me.

The only thing this new form seems not to do is calculate the necessary withholding for self employment tax if one spouse is self-employed.

In that case, the form suggests using IRS's on-line estimator ( at www.irs.gov/W4App) to arrive at the number to put on the W-4.