Can you lower your withholdings a specific amount?

[ceejay74]

My husband is going to get $2500 instead of $1800 tax credit for tuition costs in 2009. Is there a way to start getting that now by changing my withholdings? It works out to about $60 per month, or $30 per paycheck. My refund this year was only $70 more than what I owed the state, so I don't want to risk reducing my withholding any more than $60 per month.

Any ideas? Oh, and I might get a raise in March (doubtful), so if I did a fixed amount for withholding, how would I calculate the new fixed amount next month?

Oh, and my girlfriend is receiving unemployment, the first $2400 of which won't be taxable on her '09 taxes. She brings in $323 per week after withholding. Would she be able to temporarily stop her withholding for a few weeks and still come out all right at the end of the year?

I'd love to get the money in smaller monthly increments rather than have the govt. hold onto it for me until next year.

[creditcardfree]

ceejay, can you check withholding calculators at irs.gov? They should be able to give you an idea of how many withholding allowances to claim.

You can also look at paycheckcity dot com to see what the net check looks like.

Maybe you can claim exempt on her w4 for awhile...but I would check at the irs for that, too.

[GoodBuyGirl]

All you really need to do is claim more dependants through the year. The more dependants the less they hold out of your paycheck. You can claim as many as you want through the year.
You don't want to claim too many and end up owing on your taxes unless you have enough self control to set that money aside and earn the interest off of it yourself rather than lettng uncle Obama make money off your money.

[kork13]

Ceejay, I agree with you.... I wish there was a way to define exactly how much is taken out for Fed taxes.... My taxes are extraordinarily simple, so I can make a very good estimate of what my tax burden will be for the year. However, that figure falls between what they would charge me for 1 and 2 exemptions--by hundreds of dollars. So I either get a $500 rebate or a $500 tax bill. If I could define "TAKE THIS MUCH" or "THIS %", it would make it WAY easier. However, to my knowledge there is no such option.

The only possible side-step is that I can specify an "additional" dollar amount.... so I could claim 2 exemptions, then tell them to take an extra $50. however, even with my unchanging paycheck, my witholding changes each month--this month they're taking $40 less than last month, which was $80 more than the previous month. I can't explain it, and I can't figure out a better way to go....