When the Salary of a Married Woman may be Exempt from Withholding Tax on Income

December 9, 1966 BIR RULING NO. 069-66 Mr. Cornelio A. Espaol Provincial Treasurer Cotabato City S i r : This refers to your letter requesting a ruling on whether or not a married woman whose income consisting of her salary from the government, together with that of her husband, does not exceed the total exemption allowable for her family is exempt from the monthly withholding tax. cdta In reply, I have the honor to inform you that Article 2 (g)(1)(2) of R.A. 590, supplementing the provisions of the National Internal Revenue Code, provides that when a husband and wife each are recipients of wages, whether from the same or from different employers, taxes to be withheld shall be determined on the following bases: (1) The husband shall be deemed the head of the family and proper claimant of the additional exemption in respect to any dependent children; (2) Taxes shall be withheld from the wages of the wife in accordance with the schedule for zero exemption of the withholding tax table in subarticle (a). Under the aforecited law, the husband being the head of the family is entitled to claim the personal and additional exemptions for their dependent children while the wife will not be entitled to any exemption. However, if the husband and wife are recipients of wages from the same employer and their salaries are paid by the same disbursing officer, their salaries may be aggregated in accordance with their payroll period, in which case, the personal and additional exemptions to which they are entitled may be allowed in the determination of the tax to be withheld from their salaries. For this purpose, the spouses are required to furnish their Office with a signed withholding exemption certificate, on form W-4 relating to the personal and additional exemptions they claim. On the basis of the said exemption certificate, the salary of a married woman may be exempt from the monthly withholding tax when her salary together with that of her husband do not exceed the total personal and additional exemptions allowed for her family pursuant to the provisions of Section 21 in relation to Section 23 both of the Tax Code. liblex Very truly yours, (SGD.) MISAEL P. VERA Commissioner of Internal Revenue