Taxes 101 Can I File Exempt & Still Get a Tax Refund? Read the Article Open Share Drawer Share this:Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window) Written by TurboTaxLisa Published Feb 28, 2024 - [Updated Dec 19, 2024] 4 min read Last tax season, more than 75% of taxpayers received a tax refund, and the average refund was over $3,000. You can get started now with TurboTax and get closer to your tax refund, and if you have questions on your taxes, you can connect live via one-way video to a TurboTax Live tax expert with an average of 12 years of experience to get your tax questions answered from the comfort of your couch. As you may already know, the IRS issues tax refunds when you pay more tax during the year than you actually owe. When you file exempt with your employer for federal tax withholding, you do not make any tax payments during the year. Without paying tax, you do not qualify for a tax refund unless you qualify to claim a refundable tax credit, like the Earned Income Tax Credit. The tax law requires your employer to withhold federal income tax from each paycheck you receive and send it to the IRS on a quarterly basis. At tax time, your employer provides you with a W-2 Form that reports the total amount of taxes withheld during the year. When you sit down to do your taxes, if the taxes you owe are less than the total amount withheld, the IRS will send you a tax refund for the difference. Generally, if you are self-employed and expect to owe $1,000 or more, you are required to make income tax payments every three months throughout the year. If you have questions, we have TurboTax Live Premium tax experts, available in English and Spanish, to help you with your personal and business income and expenses. Table of Contents Filing exempt from withholdingUpdate your W-4Refundable tax credits Filing exempt from withholding When you start a job, your employer will ask you to fill out IRS Form W-4. The W-4 helps you estimate the amount that should be withheld from each paycheck based on the tax information you provide. To claim an exemption from withholding, you must meet certain criteria. If you had even $1 of tax liability in the prior year or anticipate earning income in excess of the sum of your standard deduction ($13,850 single, $20,800 head of household, $27,700 married filing jointly), you cannot be exempt from federal tax withholding in the current year. For example, if you file as single on your 2023 taxes, you must not anticipate earning income in excess of the standard deduction of $13,850. If you still claim exempt from withholding and earn income in excess of this amount, you will probably owe some taxes unless you qualify for refundable tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit or the Child Tax Credit. Update your W-4 If you are unable to claim exempt from withholding, you can still reduce the amount that is withheld from your paycheck by updating your W-4 and changing your withholding. There is a redesigned IRS W-4 now called the W-4 Employee’s Withholding Certificate instead of the W-4 Withholding Allowance Certificate that has been updated to reflect changes under tax reform. The IRS W-4 was redesigned to align with changes under tax reform and to help taxpayers figure out their correct withholding after tax law changes. One of the biggest changes on the W-4 form was the elimination of personal allowances since allowances were tied to the dependent and personal exemption which were eliminated. The redesigned W-4 will take into account whether you can claim the Child Tax Credit and whether you can claim tax deductions other than the standard deduction, both of which can reduce your withholding. Refundable tax credits A refundable tax credit means that even if you have zero tax liability before claiming the tax credit, you may still get a tax refund. Refundable tax credits not only reduce federal taxes you owe, but they also could result in a tax refund even if the tax credit is more than the tax you owe. For example, the American Opportunity Tax Credit that covers certain higher education expenses is 40 percent refundable, and the Earned Income Tax Credit is fully refundable, so if you are eligible for these tax credits you may see a tax refund even if you paid no income tax for the year. No matter what moves you made last year, TurboTax will make them count on your taxes. Whether you want to do your taxes yourself or have a TurboTax expert file for you, we’ll make sure you get every dollar you deserve and your biggest possible refund – guaranteed. Get started now Previous Post Estimated Quarterly Tax Dates in 2025 Next Post Is Workers’ Compensation Taxable? Everything You Need to Know Written by Lisa Greene-Lewis Lisa has over 20 years of experience in tax preparation. Her success is attributed to being able to interpret tax laws and help clients better understand them. She has held positions as a public auditor, controller, and operations manager. Lisa has appeared on the Steve Harvey Show, the Ellen Show, and major news broadcast to break down tax laws and help taxpayers understand what tax laws mean to them. For Lisa, getting timely and accurate information out to taxpayers to help them keep more of their money is paramount. More from Lisa Greene-Lewis Follow Lisa Greene-Lewis on Twitter. 188 responses to “Can I File Exempt & Still Get a Tax Refund?” Newer Comments » I am married with 2 young children, and am the only wage earner in the family. Last year, because of refund credits, I received a refund that was larger than the tax I paid. I expect to earn the same income this year (within a few dollars). Should I select Exempt to save more money per paycheck? And if I do, will I still be able to get the extra money at refund time? Hi Matthew, It is possible to get a refund under earned income tax credit, but without seeing your exact income and deductions, I can’t say definitively. You can go to our W-4 estimator which helps you estimate how many exemptions you should claim http://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/ Thank you, Lisa Greene-Lewis Hi, I just started a job on January 5th in sales for satellite TV. It has been about 4 months now and I have not had taxes taken out of my check. My bosses also have not told me I have to pay quarterly or anything like that I am getting a little worried now. I am a full-time student, just got married last month, and have 3 children I claim on my taxes. From the 2011 Year we got refunded over $9000 federal and $1400 state. I only made about $13,000 working last year but it was an hourly pay with taxes taken out of my checks. What should I expect when it comes tax time next year and should I be paying money to the IRS now? I know I got the HOPE credit which gave me $1000, then the 3 kids on the EIC gave me thousands more. But will I be looking at close to $8000 or will i owe money? I am making about $1800/month on this job. I earned $366 working last summer and claimed exempt so I didn’t have anything taken out of my check. Do I need to file a federal and state tax return? My sister earned $1060 and also claimed exempt, does she need to file? Hi, If you are a U.S. citizen or resident alien, whether you must file a federal income tax return depends on your gross income, your filing status, your age, and whether you are a dependent. It sounds like either of you may not need to. In general if you are under 65, you do not have to file unless your income is over $9,500. There are also different stipulations if you are claimed as a dependent. Please see IRS pub 501 http://www.irs.gov/publications/p501/ar02.html#en_US_2011_publink1000220687. In addition, there may be valuable credits available to you both even if you don’t earn the amounts per the IRS. Thank you, Lisa Greene-Lewis I have a question. I file for exempt last year a few months after i switched jobs. Now i work for a different company and make $12.00 and hour full time. I am single, I do not have kids, and the only thing i pay for is a room in my brothers home. Can i file exempt this year? My sister made around 49,000 this year and started her own business. Her previous employer did not withhold taxes and she did not make any payments for the business. Can she still qualify for a refund If I work full-time and go to school part time can I still file exempt. Hi Leroy, You can file exempt you just need to make sure you have enough deductions and credits so you don’t end up owing too much money. You can use TurboTax TaxCaster to get an estimate of your tax situation. http://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/ Thank you, Lisa Greene-Lewis I have a question, if you claim except for say only about 3 times in one year due to circumstances, but the rest of the year you are taxed federal, do you still get a refund? Hi Jamal, Without seeing all of your income and deductions, I cannot say definitively. Some people so still get a refund in this circumstance. It would depend on if you have enough tax deductions and on your income. Thank you, Lisa Greene-Lewis boyfriend who works full time at 19$/hr claims me and our daughter on his taxes. He had a job for the first five months of the year with our normal withholding @ 5-6, but when he switched jobs in June he put EXEMPT for some crazy reason, now I’m afraid we are screwed!! what kind of advise can I get because we are poor enough as it is without owing the IRS thousands of dollars too, plus his first boss is still not providing his W2! Hi, Without seeing your other deductions and income it’s hard to say, but with credits and deductions available you may be OK. You can try TurboTax, which will guide you through tax deductions and credits. http://turbotax.intuit.com/ Thank you, Lisa Greene-Lewis im a full time student and i claimed exempt all year… is there a possibility that i can get anything back? n how do i go about it? Hi Rosana, It’s possible you may be eligible for refundable credits like the earned income tax credit as long as you had earned income and can not be claimed on someone elses tax return. You may also be eligible for one of the education credits or deductions. You can try TurboTax for free and see if you would receive a tax refund. Thank you, Lisa Greene-Lewis i have a question if you claim exempt all year because of school can you file taxes and do eic for my newborn baby???? Hi Crystola, Yes you can still claim EITC as long as you earned income. EITC is a refundable tax credit meaning you may be eligible for a refund even if you did not have federal taxes withheld from your earnings. Thank you, Lisa Greene-Lewis execpt EITC discrimantes against people under the age of 25. most people under 25 cant get EITC. most likley due to older people in congress protecting there own interests. Hi Lisa I’m thinking of claiming exempt for a new job I’m starting tomorrow on my the W4 until the end of the year. I had no tax liability last year. This is my 3rd job this year. The other 2 I had normal taxes taken out. This new job does’nt pay much I need every penny to pay bills. I’m due a refund right now. I think I should be OK. Hi Kevin, Without knowing your exact income and deductions I cannot say for sure, but you can check how many withholding allowances you should take using our W-4 salary calculator. You can also use TaxCaster, our tax refund calculator to estimate your tax refund. Here is the link http://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/. Please keep in mind the calculators are not updated for the 2012 tax year yet, but they can still give you a good estimate. Thank you, Lisa Greene-Lewis Newer Comments » Browse Related Articles Tax Deductions and Credits I Claimed Exempt, Can I Still Get a Tax Refund? 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I am married with 2 young children, and am the only wage earner in the family. Last year, because of refund credits, I received a refund that was larger than the tax I paid. I expect to earn the same income this year (within a few dollars). Should I select Exempt to save more money per paycheck? And if I do, will I still be able to get the extra money at refund time?
Hi Matthew, It is possible to get a refund under earned income tax credit, but without seeing your exact income and deductions, I can’t say definitively. You can go to our W-4 estimator which helps you estimate how many exemptions you should claim http://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/ Thank you, Lisa Greene-Lewis
Hi, I just started a job on January 5th in sales for satellite TV. It has been about 4 months now and I have not had taxes taken out of my check. My bosses also have not told me I have to pay quarterly or anything like that I am getting a little worried now. I am a full-time student, just got married last month, and have 3 children I claim on my taxes. From the 2011 Year we got refunded over $9000 federal and $1400 state. I only made about $13,000 working last year but it was an hourly pay with taxes taken out of my checks. What should I expect when it comes tax time next year and should I be paying money to the IRS now? I know I got the HOPE credit which gave me $1000, then the 3 kids on the EIC gave me thousands more. But will I be looking at close to $8000 or will i owe money? I am making about $1800/month on this job.
I earned $366 working last summer and claimed exempt so I didn’t have anything taken out of my check. Do I need to file a federal and state tax return? My sister earned $1060 and also claimed exempt, does she need to file?
Hi, If you are a U.S. citizen or resident alien, whether you must file a federal income tax return depends on your gross income, your filing status, your age, and whether you are a dependent. It sounds like either of you may not need to. In general if you are under 65, you do not have to file unless your income is over $9,500. There are also different stipulations if you are claimed as a dependent. Please see IRS pub 501 http://www.irs.gov/publications/p501/ar02.html#en_US_2011_publink1000220687. In addition, there may be valuable credits available to you both even if you don’t earn the amounts per the IRS. Thank you, Lisa Greene-Lewis
I have a question. I file for exempt last year a few months after i switched jobs. Now i work for a different company and make $12.00 and hour full time. I am single, I do not have kids, and the only thing i pay for is a room in my brothers home. Can i file exempt this year?
My sister made around 49,000 this year and started her own business. Her previous employer did not withhold taxes and she did not make any payments for the business. Can she still qualify for a refund
Hi Leroy, You can file exempt you just need to make sure you have enough deductions and credits so you don’t end up owing too much money. You can use TurboTax TaxCaster to get an estimate of your tax situation. http://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/ Thank you, Lisa Greene-Lewis
I have a question, if you claim except for say only about 3 times in one year due to circumstances, but the rest of the year you are taxed federal, do you still get a refund?
Hi Jamal, Without seeing all of your income and deductions, I cannot say definitively. Some people so still get a refund in this circumstance. It would depend on if you have enough tax deductions and on your income. Thank you, Lisa Greene-Lewis
boyfriend who works full time at 19$/hr claims me and our daughter on his taxes. He had a job for the first five months of the year with our normal withholding @ 5-6, but when he switched jobs in June he put EXEMPT for some crazy reason, now I’m afraid we are screwed!! what kind of advise can I get because we are poor enough as it is without owing the IRS thousands of dollars too, plus his first boss is still not providing his W2!
Hi, Without seeing your other deductions and income it’s hard to say, but with credits and deductions available you may be OK. You can try TurboTax, which will guide you through tax deductions and credits. http://turbotax.intuit.com/ Thank you, Lisa Greene-Lewis
im a full time student and i claimed exempt all year… is there a possibility that i can get anything back? n how do i go about it?
Hi Rosana, It’s possible you may be eligible for refundable credits like the earned income tax credit as long as you had earned income and can not be claimed on someone elses tax return. You may also be eligible for one of the education credits or deductions. You can try TurboTax for free and see if you would receive a tax refund. Thank you, Lisa Greene-Lewis
i have a question if you claim exempt all year because of school can you file taxes and do eic for my newborn baby????
Hi Crystola, Yes you can still claim EITC as long as you earned income. EITC is a refundable tax credit meaning you may be eligible for a refund even if you did not have federal taxes withheld from your earnings. Thank you, Lisa Greene-Lewis
execpt EITC discrimantes against people under the age of 25. most people under 25 cant get EITC. most likley due to older people in congress protecting there own interests.
Hi Lisa I’m thinking of claiming exempt for a new job I’m starting tomorrow on my the W4 until the end of the year. I had no tax liability last year. This is my 3rd job this year. The other 2 I had normal taxes taken out. This new job does’nt pay much I need every penny to pay bills. I’m due a refund right now. I think I should be OK.
Hi Kevin, Without knowing your exact income and deductions I cannot say for sure, but you can check how many withholding allowances you should take using our W-4 salary calculator. You can also use TaxCaster, our tax refund calculator to estimate your tax refund. Here is the link http://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/. Please keep in mind the calculators are not updated for the 2012 tax year yet, but they can still give you a good estimate. Thank you, Lisa Greene-Lewis