W-4 Form

Quick Summary of W-4 Form

A tax form prepared by an employee for an employer indicating the employee’s exemptions and Social Security number, and enabling the employer to determine the amount of taxes to be withheld for the employee.

A W-4 form is a US federal tax form on which the employee defines the number and nature of personal exemptions from income tax they are claiming. The W-4 form is then used by the employer to determine the amount of federal income tax withholding from the employee’s paycheck. The IRS advises that employees file a new W-4 form whenever their tax liability circumstances change. The W-4 form comes with the Personal Allowances Worksheet and the Deductions and Adjustments Worksheet which employees can use to calculate tax allowances and adjustments that they enter into the W-4 form. Typically, a single person working one job whom nobody can claim as a dependent will claim one allowance on a W-4 form (i.e. enter “1” on line 5 of W-4 form). Additional allowances can be claimed on the W-4 form for situations where the employee is head of their household, has dependents, has child care expenses or a child tax credit. Further adjustments and deductions can be specified on the W-4 form if the employee has more jobs than one or lives in a household with multiple earners (i.e. working spouse). An employee exempt from withholding is still required to fill a certain section of the W-4 form (i.e. lines 1 thru 4 and line 7) and sign it. The W-4 form also contains the employee’s private and contact details as well as their Social Security Number. The W-4 form is named the Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate.

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