re: New Job- Dependent Question

A W-4 asks for a number of "allowances" rather than a number of dependents. It tries to factor in other items such as the child tax credit and the dependent care credit to more accurately withhold taxes throughout the year and prevent a large balance due, or a large refund.

As far as a "tax break" from what you put down, it won't matter. It will just affect what you get back or owe at the end of the year. The lower the number of allowances, the more taxes are withheld from your paycheck.

If you're married with 2 kids, you should put at least 3 allowances. If you typically get the child tax credit ($1,000) you should add an allowance for each credit you usually receive. I would suggest being conservative with this and putting 3 total allowances and see where that puts your refund at the end of '13. You shouldn't owe anything (assuming you have no income outside of your w-2) but your refund may still be large, meaning you didn't have access to that money during the year and gave uncle sam an interest free loan. But the flip side of that is putting too many allowances and owing him something at the end of the year, so I tell my clients to err on the side of a refund.

Hope this helps