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I've been having taxes withheld so far as a Single, but I recently discovered that I'm qualified to file as Head of Household. Because I've been paying too much until now, I would like to reduce my withholding for the rest of the year to end up with the right amount.

Is there any way I can do this? I suspect I would need to fill out Line G, Other Credits, but if I try the calculator and click through to the help section (https://apps.irs.gov/app/withholdingcalculator/helpdocs/taxcredits.htm) on this topic, I don't see anything in here that relates to 'paid too much until now because changing filing status'.

Is it correct that I should use "Other Credits" for this, and if so, how do I calculate what amount to fill in?

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    How complicated are your taxes? Are you just standard deduction one income source?
    – Joe
    Jun 9, 2018 at 0:45

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The basic withholding calculator handles this fine, no monkeying with credits. It asks you how much has been withheld already and how much salary you had; you can tell it how much was withheld and the salary and then it will tell you what to claim now.

See below; if you want to make it even simpler you can pretend you switched jobs and separate the past data from the future, though it’s not necessary - the calculator really will handle this. It’s basically what it’s made for.

image of form

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    Indeed according to the Form W-4 instructions, "If you use the calculator, you don’t need to complete any of the worksheets for Form W-4". What finally comes out of the calculator is a number of allowances (in my case, 12) which you fill out directly on line 5 of Form W-4.
    – Kurt Peek
    Jun 11, 2018 at 17:41
  • @KurtPeek Yep; it's a pretty crazy system, and it means that very likely you won't end up with a useful amount for next year - do remember to adjust it back to whatever the full year number is for 2019 (though I suspect you'll get a totally new form in 2019 anyway).
    – Joe
    Jun 11, 2018 at 17:48

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