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In college, each floor in the dorms had a pay phone in the middle of the hallway (for the two people on this board under the age of 40, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payphone). One day I'm heading to my room after class and the phone rings as I pass it. So I pick it up, lower my voice a little bit, and slowly say, "Greene County Morgue". To my horror, it was my mom calling for me. In spite of me having a very distinctive voice, she didn't recognize me. Thinking she had dialed wrong, she asks, "What number is this?" 18 year old me is panicking. I continue my pathetic Lurch imitation and start reading the number listed on the phone, changing the last number. We hang up. I go to my room. As I walk to my room, the phone rings. I ignore it. 20 seconds later, one of my dorm mates knocks on my door to tell me I have a phone call. I go pick up the phone: Me: Hello Mom: Dave, it's mom. You won't believe the wrong number I just dialed, the Green County Morgue. The number is one digit different than yours. The guy sounded just like a cartoon stereotype of an undertaker. Me (my knees still a bit wobbly): Wow, that's interesting.

Single with no other notations (there is no "allowance" count on the current form) is wise for the first month. Then, review, compare against the desired WH per paycheck, and if different, use a new Single W4, with any desired adjustments to deductions or additional income. For those who cannot or will not let go of the "allowance" settings/comparisons from the past, the "implied" allowances are 0 for two jobs, 3 for married joint, and 2 for all other selections. THIS is why so many under withhold. Anyone who used to claim lesser allowances for their status selection is likely to under withhold.

Not to disagree, but in the year of death, doesn't the taxpayer get "deemed" to have lived the whole year and get the credits and deductions as if they lived the whole year? I am not in a place to look this up, but my first take was the same as Gail's. I don't think the IRS is going to go looking at a decedent tax return that claims a child if no other person claims that child. Tom Longview, TX

I had ordered something from a vendor in Fl and he was calling me to confirm the order and called our home phone instead of the office phone. My daughter was about 12 then and answered the phone with "City morgue -you kill them, we chill them. " So he hung up assuming he had a wrong number. When he called back she said "City morgue - you stab em, we slab 'em." But this time he told her he was looking for me. She gave him the office number, and he was laughing when he told me the story. She felt bad. No harm done.

I agree with Tom above, and also if this was a joint custody, then the son should be a qualifying child of the dad because the kids alternated weeks between the 2 homes and he died in August, then no one else (meaning the paternal grandfather in this case) could have had more custody than the dad unless it was possibly one week more by the mom.

I may need some more coffee this morning. Client: I'll be dropping my taxes off this morning. Our 2nd child was born Feb 17th. Hope that helps us. Me: If she was born in 2023, I'll need her SSN. Me again: Oh, of course you meant 2023. We haven't reached the 17th of this month yet. At least I haven't ended a client call with "love you too" like a friend did. Friend's employer is a large city in FL. Friend and caller (a stranger to her) both had a good laugh.

That's funny. I remember those dorms with the pay phone in the middle of the floor.

Since the child did not live with Dad half the year, better use Form 8332,

It's ironic since W 4V allows you to choose 7%, 10%, 12%. or 22% to be withheld from your monthly social security check. If you want taxes to be withheld from your RMD you get to choose a pecentage for both federal and state tax to be withheld.

When my girls worked for me, they quickly learned to identify themselves immediately - because the three of us are utterly interchangeable on the phone. They would answer, and people would instantly launch into their complicated questions only to be told, "You'll have to talk to mom; hang on she's coming." The flip side is when older daughter had her first job, they handed out the W2s in January. Her response was, "great; thanks!" and the other kids were asking "what is this and what do I do with it?" She started explaining and next thing she knew, she had the entire shop surrounding her as she explained the data fields and where the information went on the federal and state forms. She told me later, "As I was talking, I was thinking to myself 'I sound just like mom...'"

I left my son to answer the phone once day for FIVE MINUTEs. i happened to call back and found out he was answering the phone, "This is Ryan, I can't help you."

My daughter worked for me a couple of years ago. We always end phone calls with Love You, Bye. And she caught herself saying that more than once. On another note, my other daughter was helping in the office. My name is Elizabeth but I've always been called Beth. I hear her repeating on the phone "Beth. You know, like meth but with a B"

I think the special rule is that the parents of the child can agree to put them on either return so long as they agree. If there is a disagreement, the tie breaker would go to the mom. I think Patti has an ethical issue on her hands about telling the mom about the situation. She cannot discuss the dad's return with the mom, but she is obligated to do so to properly inform her of the tax ramifications to the mom's return. Sticky situation. Tom Longview, TX

At the risk of showing my ignorance....You can do that? Never had a retired minister so I am just wondering how one can get a pension and have it designated as Housing Allowance. Do all the same rules apply? How does one notify the fiduciary on an annual basis to tell them what portion of the pension is designated for housing. Could a retired minister take a distribution from a 401K or IRA and designate it as housing? Wow, never ever thought this was possible. Can someone fill me in on how this works? Tom Longview, TX

Oh no - seems these preacher people are giving us all headaches this year. But on the bright side - it's ash Wednesday and the fish fry specials will begin Friday!

I should have said in my first reply, pass along kudos from another foster family!

If they are otherwise entitled to them, but I am not aware of any exception to the dependent rules in his favor. In this case child did not live with dad for over 1/2 year, so mom would win in a tie breaker case since child lived with her the greatest number of days. But in fact, only one can be the custodial parent for tax purposes in a normal 365 day year, since the child could only spend 183 nights with one parent. If one parent breaks the agreement it is a legal issue, not a tax issue. For 2023 it looks like mom is clearly the custodial parent (unless there is some special rule for the deceased taxpayer). You might be able to navigate through form 8867 in favor of deceased dad, keep in mind mother would prevail in tie breaker case.

As a long time FP, and failed twice, the payments are not taxable or reportable, unless you want to. This case sounds like one where the amount could actually lead to "profit", but still not reportable. I know of no case where the payments for full time in a home cover the actual costs. Not even the medically fragile (with a much higher payment). Coupled with the regulations, red tape, and danger (yes, birth people are not all kind and do make threats), it is no wonder few step up. We always used pseudo names for the kids, so we would never be heard in public using their BC name. For visitation, we never allowed at our home, and used a vehicle normally garaged. We avoided the birth person(s) and handed off through a worker. But, there is joy to be had as well, indescribable joy.

IRS Pub 4694 says they are not. Pubs are not authority as you well know. Tom Longview, TX

The current W4 essentially asks the taxpayer to complete next year's tax return this year and is a disaster. Does it even account for the additional Medicare tax when one spouse is over the threshold and having the extra taken out but the other isn't? When there is glaring underwithholding, I tell clients to put Single, zero exemptions on the W4 and leave the other lines blank. (Not many want their employer to know what their spouse earns or their other sources of income.) Then we'll look at it at the end of the year and adjust accordingly.

Say what???? Those of us who understand how they work can use the formulas to calculate what the withholding will be based on the W4. Clients want different things. Just this afternoon I had a gal with a balance due of around $600 federal. She doesn't want to have a balance due whether there is a penalty or not. Just told her to have an extra $15 a week withheld so next year should be close to break even. Another young couple had a 13K refund. It's due to withholding and not refundable credits. Asked if they wanted to adjust W4 to have a smaller refund, and the answer was no, they want the big refund. Not what I'd do, but it's their money. One thing we should all do is when a dependent is turning 17 or graduating college give them a heads up how that will affect next year.

It's called adulting.

You are expecting someone to monitor each of their paychecks? Someone who is not capable of preparing their own return? How about the clap back from the employer you are causing when the employee nags at the employer to withhold your magic percent? While still not professional (to me), looking at the liability for the ended year is reasonable, as is suggest the employee to make sure at least that amount is withheld for the current year, is reasonable to avoid penalty. Some magic percent is random, unless the goal is to be able to show how much refund you were able to make appear. What is accurate is to give a starting W4, and review in Sep or Oct to see if anything can be changed to get closer to 0 refund/owed. I do not believe in using a refund as a piggy bank. As I have been shown here, most preparer types do not want to get involved in W4. That is great too, freedom of choice and all. Flat % suggestion, to me, is a "here you go, now go" type of response, which has zero to do with accuracy for the upcoming year. The now several year old W4 is MAGIC for those of us who use it to the fullest. One can enter enough 4b, and 4c to do what some call holy grail, a fixed dollar amount per check. Now THAT is more likely to be accurate than some sort of constant monitoring for meeting a %. -- This is a huge issue for me, as I have shared often. Employees get the flat % from someone, and demand the employer comply. Some will even write it on their W4. While a flat % may be the end liability, as anyone can calculate after the fact, it does nothing for the employee, and when the employee tries to get the employer to comply, causes a headache for the employee and employer.

It only helps if they can do basic math.

I do live payroll processing, so I do have access. The difficulty lies with 2 wage earner situations and situations with significant bonuses. Unless the client is willing to pay me a fee for a next year's tax projection,which very few will do, I just hand them the W 4s and point them to the instructions. I used to give clients some guesstimated advice, but ever since the TCJA went into effect that doesn't work very well and has backfired on me a few times.

year's ago when my daughter was in middle school, she knew when she answered the phone (land line- no one had a cell phone back then) she had to listen for the fax sound and wait until it picked up. what she didn't know was that the person on the other end could hear her. one time, she was waiting for the fax sound and being silly, she screamed some gibberish in the phone. She was so embarrassed when my client responded to her.

Gail, at least he wasn't answering, "This is Ryan, and I'm beyond help!"

The itch is for those who give W4 advice not to lazy out and give some unusable percentage of income. I get it, perspective, the pct is likely close, but yet, unusable by the employee. At a preparer, you likely cannot even be sure what method the employer uses (there is software which allows/requires the employer to maintain calculations, so one cannot assume employers are accurate). And even if you can prove the employer is not doing things correctly, as is the consensus here, every time, making waves with the employer is not something to suggest. So indeed, a flat % suggestion is a huge peeve of mine, and of every employer who deals with the employee who wants a flat rate. That is why it, assuming not wanting to get involved with actual W4 prep (which I asked here before, and the consensus was not to do it, as a tax preparer), it is cleaner and more helpful to give a number to meet, either through WH or direct deposits, and let the employee figure it out. If you want to be thoughtful, give a formula showing the amount divided paydays per year to compare against what their employer withholds.

Agree. I will not agree a professional giving an unusable % is professional. Such advice costs the employee time/money to try to figure out, and likely costs the employee goodwill with their employer if they present the "professional" percent and demand the employer comply. I have had those arguments, and know how it works. "My preparer says to withhold this %, make it so, or I will raise a stink". Then, the employer contacts me, the software person, and asks how to get the employee off their back. Do you professionally believe a person, who is not capable of their own tax prep, and is not capable of filling in a W4, is capable of handling a flat % WITHOUT pissing off their employer?

No more mor "ir" onic than the IRS feeding 941 forms into scanners - still. There is no way we will ever get to any flat federal handling, as it could lead to the mythical postcard return, and a loss of tens of thousands of j o b s.