Who should claim the child as dependent?

You are confused, your w4 and filing a tax return are two different things.

File a joint tax return and claim your child as a dependent.

For withholding information visit IRS website www.irs.gov and use the withholding calculator to find out how many you can claim on your w4 which you will have less with held from your pay check each pay day and will not receive a large refund at time of filing.

Me personally: Like I choose to claim Single on my W4 and may spouse claims 2 which of course I have more taken out of my paycheck, and my husband has less, well at time of filing our federal tax return and having a refund, of course the refund will be mine because i had more withheld (at least that is my thinking) I only do it so that i make sure to receive a refund and will have the money to full pay my auto insurance which is $3500 per year. I just use my refund and don't have to touch my saving account.

If you live together than you file one return as Married Filing Joint and the child goes on the return as a dependent. If you do not live together, than the deduction goes to the custodial parent unless their is a divorce decree that states otherwise. You may never claim the same child on two separate returns. That will only spell trouble. Sometimes an dependent can be split--the custodial parent can take deductions for EIC and dependent care benefits and the other parent can claim the child tax credit and the exemption. If you are unsure of how to file, please get some help. Your local H&R Block or Jackson Hewitt will be happy to assist you.

Whoever contributes more than 50% to the child's support. Generally, it's the parent that the child lives with. (By the sound of your question, I assume you're divorced)

Only one parent can claim the child on taxes.

If you're not divorced, and still married, you would most likely be better off filing a joint return. In that case, the child is included as a dependent on your joint return.

Edit - Filing jointly usually works out better, but a software program like Turbo Tax can easily figure it both ways.

As for your W-4's, wait until you figure this year's taxes to see how large or small your refund was this year. If you got a large refund, you may want to claim more exemptions to get less tax withheld. If you get a small refund, or have to pay tax, then you may want to claim fewer exemptions on your W-4 to have more tax withheld.

Are you still married? If so, the best way to file would be married filing jointly, in which case your joint return would get the one exemption for your child.

If you are filing separately for some reason, only one of you can claim the child as a dependent. The IRS frowns on children being claimed more than once per tax year.

Are you still married? If you are you can file a joint return and claim the child. You tax people shuld be able to run the numbers between filing jointly or married filing separately. If you are not married, whoever has custody gets the claim unless permission is given otherwise.

Only one return can claim any one dependent. That can be a joint return, with the two of you claiming him together. And if you both include him on your W-4's you will very likely come up short when you file your return, and have to pay.

99% of the time the greatest tax benefit is married filing jointly which means the joint return gets the dependent.

Why aren't you filing a joint return?