If the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) determines that you do not have enough federal income tax withheld, they will instruct your employer to increase your withholding tax amount. This instruction, done through a Lock-in Letter from the IRS, specifies the withholding arrangement permitted for you.
Ing to the IRS Tax Topic 751 on withholding, to claim exempt, you must have had no federal income tax liability last year and expect to have no federal income tax liability this year.
If an employee qualifies for exemption from withholding, the employee can use Form W-4 to tell the employer not to deduct any federal income tax from wages. This applies only to income tax, not to Social Security or Medicare tax.
EXCLUSION FROM WITHHOLDING TAX (EXEMPT STATUS) You must provide Form DD-2058 to your employer with Form A-4 to qualify.
Exemption from withholding An employee can also use Form W-4 to tell you not to withhold any federal income tax. To qualify for this exempt status, the employee must have had no tax liability for the previous year and must expect to have no tax liability for the current year.
Basically -- you cannot completely stop your employer from withholding ALL taxes. You can usually REDUCE the amount that is withheld, by filling out a brief simple one page form that you have already filled out (a W-4 form ) and handing it to your boss. But, you cannot reduce that amount to zero...
In general, if a person expects to have no tax liability, claiming exempt from federal withholding is usually a good idea. For an individual who can be claimed as a dependent on someone else's income tax return, this generally means the person's earned income is less than $12,400 during the year.
If you are filing EXEMPT status (which means that there will be nothing withheld from your paycheck, you must write the word EXEMPT on line 7. You cannot have something on line 5 and EXEMPT on line 7. If you are filing exempt status line 5 should be left blank.
If you would like to apply for a Sales Tax Exempt Certificate, you can find the form on Alabama Department of Revenue website. The Department of Revenue may also request the following before approving your applications.
To claim exempt, write EXEMPT under line 4c. You may claim EXEMPT from withholding if: o Last year you had a right to a full refund of All federal tax income and o This year you expect a full refund of ALL federal income tax. NOTE: if you claim EXEMPT you must complete a new W-4 annually in February.