Author Topic: W4 and qualifying widow vs Head of Household  (Read 2736 times)

szmaine

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W4 and qualifying widow vs Head of Household
« on: April 02, 2015, 11:02:18 AM »
Hi,

I was widowed last year and know that I'm allowed to leave my W4 exemptions based on a married status because of being able to file as a "Qualifying Widow" for the next two tax years. But I have done some tax modelling and with tweaking my savings scenario will do a bit better filing as HH. Is there any penalty for having my W4 say "married" if I opt to file HH. I'm not sure I understand why one has to specify this status on the W4 anyway since either you'll owe or you wont based on your withholdings...but thought I'd see if I'm missing something here.

MDM

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Re: W4 and qualifying widow vs Head of Household
« Reply #1 on: May 17, 2015, 08:51:23 PM »
You aren't missing anything.  As you note, "you'll owe or you won't based on your withholding."  Fill out the W-4 however you want to get the end result you desire.

Good for you on doing your own tax modeling!