I ran across the 1040 Tax Calculator site when googling how many deductions to take on one's W4. I've always heard the more you take, the bigger your refund will be, but Mr. Debtbeater says his experience indicates taking more will result in a smaller refund. As he states, this is due mainly because of the child tax credit (and that he has six children).

I have received a refund (child tax credit and earned income credit) from the IRS of around $2000 for several years. But since our youngest child turned 18 this year, I didn't get to claim the child tax credit and the refund was only $1000.

As soon as I have some extra time I plan to use that Tax Calculator to see how marrying Mr. Accountability will work out tax-wise. I have been taking my normal number of deductions all year long, while Mr. Accountability took the standard number for a single man without dependents. I'm hoping his larger deduction will balance out my low deductions, and we won't be responsible for too much.

I'll report back on this later.