Hi,

I came US in March'2015. My spouse and a 2 year old kid joined me in August'2015. I did not submit W4 form to get the Tax benefit yet. Now my family has to go back to my native country by first week of December. I have below queries:
1) Will I get Tax Benefit for the time my dependents were here?
2) Did I loose any money because of not filing W4 or I will get that money when I will file the Tax.
3) How much benefit will I get if my dependents will be here till 31st Dec'2015.

Thanks.

I came US in March'2015. My spouse and a 2 year old kid joined me in August'2015. I did not submit W4 form to get the Tax benefit yet. Now my family has to go back to my native country by first week of December. I have below queries:
1) Will I get Tax Benefit for the time my dependents were here?====>What is your visa status?? You can be both a nonresident alien and a resident alien during the same tax year 2015 as you arrived in the US in 2015.Say I assume that you are a dual status resident, then, you are allowed exemptions for your spouse and a dependent in figuring taxable income for the part of the year you were a resident alien aslongas you meet the requirement to claim the dependent. However, to claim your child as dependent on your US return, your kid must live in your home for more than half the year of 2015. As a dual status alien, You cannot file a joint return and also cannot use the standard deduction allowed .However, you can itemize certain allowable deductions. However, if you are a US resident I mean a green card holder, then, you may file your return with your spouse as Married filing jointly in this case, you and your spouse must report both US source and world wide income on your US return. As said you can not claim your kid as your dependent UNLESS the kid lived in your home for more than half the year of 2015.


2) Did I loose any money because of not filing W4 or I will get that money when I will file the Tax.=====>> No I do not think so;The W-4 is the form you, as an W2 EE, fill out when you first start to work. It tells your employer your tax filing status and the number of exemptions you want to apply to your federal withholding on your wages. If you are an W2 EE, your employer is required to have you fill out a W-4, and to give you a W-2 at the end of the year.So, You need to provide a W-4 to your employer so that they can calculate your withholding. Dependents claimed on your tax return are often not the same as allowances on the Form W-4. Allowances on the W-4 are designed to reduce your income by the amount of non-taxable income calculated on your tax return.You may claim any number of withholding allowances on W4. But if you claim more allowances on your W4, then, your ER withholds less taxes form your paychecks and you may pay more taxes in your return. However, You Can Adjust Your W-4 Allowances at any time.



3) How much benefit will I get if my dependents will be here till 31st Dec'2015.===>.For 2015, you may claim $4k only for your spouse and as your kid is not your dependent , you can not claim another $4K on your kid.

Hi,

Thanks Wnhough for the reply. I am here on H1 and my dependents are on H4. I did not understand your response completely. So let me try to reframe my question so that I can get response in much more simpler manner :-).
1) Even if I did not fill W4 and did not get Tax Benefit for Aug-Till date, while filing Tax Return I can claim or I will get that benefit?
2) Will there be any extra benefit if my dependents will be staying here till year end i.e. 31st Dec.

Thanks.

#1; yes.Since you did not submit a W4, then your ER treats you as single with no allowances.Your ER ‘d withhold more taxes from paychecks then.




#2; Subject to the general rules for qualification, you are allowed exemptions for your spouse and dependent in figuring your taxable income for the part of the year of 2015 you were a resident alien.But Your total deduction for the exemptions for your spouse and allowable dependent cannot be more than your taxable income determined without deducting personal exemptions for the period you are a resident alien in 2015.you can not claim your spouse as your dependent but claim her personal exemption and also claim your kid as your dependent unless the kid's gross income is less than $4k in 2015..

Hi,

I get salary at every 15 days. This time I got revised salary,almost $500 extra, as I updated my W4 form. So will I get $4000 as refund for the period I did not updated the W4 for my dependent. They were here for 4 months and I did not claim that in W4.


Thanks,
Ankit

it?s likely that you have too little tax withheld. Too much tax refunds are bad; tax refunds are a no interest loan to theirs/ your state. Every dollar you get in a tax refund is a dollar that you could have taken home at some point during the year. You don't realize that you could be bringing that money home in their paycheck instead of waiting to get it in April by changing your allowances on your W4. As said, it is pretty difficult to predict your taxes for the following year. So what yu need to do is attempt to use the refund you got this year to modify your allowances so you get less of a refund next year.
The key to paying the right amount of tax is to update your W-4 regularly. So you need to do this to reduce the potential for both a tax bill and a tax refund to ALMOSTzero, or close to it. Aslongas you count on a big tax refund every year,then, you need to also pay attention to your withholding, because how much you have withheld directly impacts your refund.

Sorry; correction.

it is likely that you have too MUCH tax withheld