How to Fill Out a W-4 Form: A Step-By-Step Guide 2024

If you have more than one job at a time or are married filing jointly and have a working spouse, you should fill out the Multiple Jobs Worksheet. Taxable income is the portion of your gross income that the IRS uses to determine the taxes you owe in a given year. One likely cause is if you receive significant income reported on Form 1099, which is used for interest, dividends, or self-employment income that you have not yet paid taxes on. Or you may be still working but receiving pension benefits from a previous job or Social Security retirement benefits. After completing this step, single filers with a simple tax situation, as described above, only need to sign and date the form, and they are done. We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service.

• Employers and employees must familiarize themselves with these changes to ensure accurate tax withholding.
• Married filing jointly employees using the W-4 form can elect additional withholding.
• You can do this any time, but remember, if you alter your W-4 later in the later months of the year, the changes might not affect your tax situation significantly for that year.
• If you start a new job and you’re making the same pay, for example, you can check the box on 2C for both of these jobs.

How to change your W-4 form

And one of the documents you’ll have to fill out is Form W-4. Yep—not the most exciting way to get started, but it’s an essential document when it comes to your taxes. Do you feel more confident about filling out the W-4 after reading through these steps?

Key Updates in the 2024 W-4 Form

Taxpayers pay the tax as they earn or receive income during the year. Taxpayers can avoid a surprise at tax time by checking their withholding amount. The IRS urges everyone to do a Paycheck Checkup in 2019, even if https://thetennesseedigest.com/navigating-financial-growth-leveraging-bookkeeping-and-accounting-services-for-startups/ they did one in 2018. Here’s what to know about withholding and why checking it is important. One of the primary reasons that the IRS updated Form W-4 was the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act at the end of 2017.

Recent W-4 Form Updates To Know

The way that you fill out Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Certificate, determines how much tax your employer will withhold from your paycheck. Your employer sends the money it withholds from your paycheck to the IRS, along with your name and Social Security number. The opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Blueprint editorial staff alone. The information is accurate as of the publish date, but always check the provider’s website for the most current information. In this section, you can ask your employer to withhold extra taxes or note that you expect to claim deductions other than the standard deduction. Whatever your reasoning, you can reduce the amount of income tax withheld by reducing the number on line 4(a) or 4(c) or increasing the number on 4(b).

Understand tax withholding

If you don’t have access to the online federal forms, you can request them on CD-ROM, through fax, over the phone and through the mail. You can also visit a local IRS office and participating banks, post offices, libraries, grocery stores, copy centers and office supply stores. Additionally, she says, you should update your W-4 after major life transitions such as getting married, going through a divorce and welcoming kids. You may also need to update the form when your children are no longer considered dependent. The IRS has attached a helpful and accurate withholding estimator tool to their digital W-4 form to simplify the process further. Get $30 off your tax filing job today and access an affordable, licensed Tax Professional.

To accurately fill in line 1, you’ll need to use the graphs provided on page four of Form W-4. These graphs are separated out by filing status, so you’ll need to select the correct graph based on how you file your taxes. The left-hand column Navigating Financial Growth: Leveraging Bookkeeping and Accounting Services for Startups lists dollar amounts for the higher-earning spouse, and the top row lists dollar amounts for the lower-earning spouse. Make sure to complete Steps 3–4(B) on the W-4 of your highest-paying job only if you are submitting for multiple jobs.