Um Phil,

I have always listened to what you say on these tax matters, but I have to respectfully disagree. I have been married with 2 children the whole time I have been working and according to the first page of the W-4 (not the second), the person you responded to should claim 3 exemptions according to the W-4 itself. I must say that with my 2 children I always claimed 6 (1-myself, 1-one job in the household, 1-spouse, 2-children, 1-child tax credit or something like that) until we purchase our home, and we ALWAYS ended up with a refund over $1K.


1) Enter "1" for yourself if no one else can claim you as a dependent

2) Enter "1" if:

You are single and have only one job; or
You are married, have only one job, and your spouse does not work;
or
Your wages from a second job or your spouse's wages (or the total
of both) are $1,000 or less

3) Enter "1" for your spouse.


I once again want to reiterate that I realize that you're a former professional, but the above instructions (the upper half of the form that actually matters to the previous poster) are fairly clear to me.

--Kaylin