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?” « Older Comments Newer Comments » Hi! The education tax credits are “nonrefundable,” which means they won’t increase your refund if you owe no tax to begin with. Hope that clarifies! –Christopher Hi i didnt work 2012 but was full time school received 1098T can i still claim the American Opportunity Credit? Hi! The education tax credits are “nonrefundable,” which means they won’t increase your refund if you owe no tax to begin with. Hope that clarifies! –Christopher Aniya… Just a correction to what TurboTaxChristopherT said. 40% of the American Opportunity Credit is refundable, which means you can get a refund even if you owe no tax. So, don’t overlook this credit!! It’s YOUR money! And by the way, it’s very challenging keeping up with the tax laws and that’s why TurboTax is so valuable. TurboTax does all the calculations so we don’t need to know all the minute details. Bob Meighan, VP TurboTax I work two jobs, one of which is a work study at the college where i attend full time and the other is a part time job at a clinic. My work study i put exempt so nothing has been taken out and my other one i had taxes with held. will i get a return? Hi Barb, I filled exempt once I started my new job in June, 2012 (since I did that during my last job which lasted 2 yrs) But changed it to non exempt beginning Jan 2013. For the 6 months at my new job ( June 2012- – Dec 2012) I paid no Fed taxes. Will I owed the IRS money this year or next? Hello Barb, I have 3 W2’s from 2012 and when I do my TurboTax filing online, I have a good amount coming back to me but when I enter my W2 from an employer who did not take taxes out due to not making enough, my refund drops about 1500.00 and I am still waiting on my 3rd W2. I want to know, since Federal Taxes were not taken out from the one employer, can I file this W2 next year. I’m in a bind and need as much as I can get right now. Leah… I think we’d all like to defer reporting out wage income to another year, but unfortunately, that is not the way our tax system works. You’ll have to report exactly what you receive on each W-2. In the future, you should file Form W-4 with each employer to ensure you have the proper taxes withheld from your paycheck. This will prevent unpleasant surprises at tax time. Bob Meighan, VP TurboTax I’m a single mom of 4 dependents and earned $10,000 but my tax with held for the whole year was only $1 will I get anything back?? Thank you Crystal Hi Lisa! I worked for a month and only made 1400.00. I started school last May as a full-time student. I’m wondering should I file taxes or let my boyfriend claim me as a dependant. I don’t want to mess up my fasfa or his money. Which way should I go? I work as a Nanny and just got my W2 from a family i worked for last year. I noticed that the boxes in Fed & State tax were empty. Does this mean that they didn’t pay any taxes for me? Is this even legal? I am shocked that I didn’t even know. I would have paid them quarterly if I had known. Hi I didn’t file last year so I’m doing 2011 and 2012 together I filled exempt both years due to bills. I make 17,000 a year will I owe the IRS. I still have some taxes coming out about 60 dollars every two weeks 10.50 a hour for an 80 hour pay period Hi Lily- The rules for claiming a non-related person as a dependent are as follows: -He must be a U.S. citizen and unmarried. -He must have lived with you all year. -His gross income must be less than $3,800 -You must have provided more than half his support for the year. If you met all those requirements (and it sounds as if you may), you can claim him as a dependent. To do this in Turbo Tax, go to the Personal Information section. When it asks if you support anyone else, indicate that you do. It will ask if it is your child or someone else. Select ‘someone else’, and it will take you through the process of adding him as your dependent. Thanks! Barb « Older Comments Newer Comments » Browse Related Articles Tax Deductions and Credits I Claimed Exempt, Can I Still Get a Tax Refund? Tax Planning IRS Reports Tax Refunds are Up This Year Tax Refunds What To Expect When You’re Expecting…a Tax Refund Tax Planning Did You Miss the Tax Deadline? 3 Steps You Can Take Next TurboTax News Government Shutdown 2019 Update: You Can File Now With TurboTax Tax Tips 10 Popular Tax Myths Busted by Actress Jenny Lorenzo Tax Refunds Offsets for Taxes: What It Means & What to Do Family How Child Support Affects Your Taxes Tax Refunds File Your Taxes: You May Have Unclaimed Refunds Waiting Tax Deductions and Credits TurboTax Answers the Top 5 Commonly Asked Tax Questions for 2014
Hi! The education tax credits are “nonrefundable,” which means they won’t increase your refund if you owe no tax to begin with. Hope that clarifies! –Christopher
Hi i didnt work 2012 but was full time school received 1098T can i still claim the American Opportunity Credit?
Hi! The education tax credits are “nonrefundable,” which means they won’t increase your refund if you owe no tax to begin with. Hope that clarifies! –Christopher
Aniya… Just a correction to what TurboTaxChristopherT said. 40% of the American Opportunity Credit is refundable, which means you can get a refund even if you owe no tax. So, don’t overlook this credit!! It’s YOUR money! And by the way, it’s very challenging keeping up with the tax laws and that’s why TurboTax is so valuable. TurboTax does all the calculations so we don’t need to know all the minute details. Bob Meighan, VP TurboTax
I work two jobs, one of which is a work study at the college where i attend full time and the other is a part time job at a clinic. My work study i put exempt so nothing has been taken out and my other one i had taxes with held. will i get a return?
Hi Barb, I filled exempt once I started my new job in June, 2012 (since I did that during my last job which lasted 2 yrs) But changed it to non exempt beginning Jan 2013. For the 6 months at my new job ( June 2012- – Dec 2012) I paid no Fed taxes. Will I owed the IRS money this year or next?
Hello Barb, I have 3 W2’s from 2012 and when I do my TurboTax filing online, I have a good amount coming back to me but when I enter my W2 from an employer who did not take taxes out due to not making enough, my refund drops about 1500.00 and I am still waiting on my 3rd W2. I want to know, since Federal Taxes were not taken out from the one employer, can I file this W2 next year. I’m in a bind and need as much as I can get right now.
Leah… I think we’d all like to defer reporting out wage income to another year, but unfortunately, that is not the way our tax system works. You’ll have to report exactly what you receive on each W-2. In the future, you should file Form W-4 with each employer to ensure you have the proper taxes withheld from your paycheck. This will prevent unpleasant surprises at tax time. Bob Meighan, VP TurboTax
I’m a single mom of 4 dependents and earned $10,000 but my tax with held for the whole year was only $1 will I get anything back?? Thank you Crystal
Hi Lisa! I worked for a month and only made 1400.00. I started school last May as a full-time student. I’m wondering should I file taxes or let my boyfriend claim me as a dependant. I don’t want to mess up my fasfa or his money. Which way should I go?
I work as a Nanny and just got my W2 from a family i worked for last year. I noticed that the boxes in Fed & State tax were empty. Does this mean that they didn’t pay any taxes for me? Is this even legal? I am shocked that I didn’t even know. I would have paid them quarterly if I had known.
Hi I didn’t file last year so I’m doing 2011 and 2012 together I filled exempt both years due to bills. I make 17,000 a year will I owe the IRS. I still have some taxes coming out about 60 dollars every two weeks 10.50 a hour for an 80 hour pay period
Hi Lily- The rules for claiming a non-related person as a dependent are as follows: -He must be a U.S. citizen and unmarried. -He must have lived with you all year. -His gross income must be less than $3,800 -You must have provided more than half his support for the year. If you met all those requirements (and it sounds as if you may), you can claim him as a dependent. To do this in Turbo Tax, go to the Personal Information section. When it asks if you support anyone else, indicate that you do. It will ask if it is your child or someone else. Select ‘someone else’, and it will take you through the process of adding him as your dependent. Thanks! Barb