Federal Form W-4

The Federal W-4 form is used to determine how much personal income tax the government should withhold from an employee's paychecks. Make sure new employees complete a W-4 form before you create their first paychecks.

The employee-provided information includes whether to withhold at the single, head of household, or married rate, whether the taxpayer holds multiple jobs at a time and/or the taxpayer’s spouse is employed, the number of dependents claimed, whether an additional withholding amount is requested, and whether an exemption from withholding is claimed.

Information previously provided by the employee on Form W-4 may change during the year. The employee is required to provide the employer with a new Form W-4 within 10 days following any change that would affect withholding.

If events during the current year will increase required withholding for the following year, the employee must provide the employer a new Form W-4 by December 1 of the current year

If the event affecting withholding occurs in December of the current year, a new Form W-4 must be submitted within 10 days following the event.

Usually, the tax withheld from wages will closely approximate the employee’s tax liability. In some cases tax may be under withheld because the employee has more than one job, is married and has a working spouse, receives nonwage income, or for some other reason.

The employee should try to have withholding match actual income tax liability to avoid interest and/or penalties and should provide a new Form W-4 to change the amount withheld if too little tax is likely to be withheld.

Employee’s who hold more than one job or who are married filing jointly with a working spouse may choose to use the multiple jobs worksheet, included in the Form W-4 instructions, or use the estimator to determine the correct amount of withholding.

Employees should consider using the estimator, found at www.irs.gov/W4App, if they:

1. Expect to work only part of the year;
2. Have dividend or capital gain income, or are subject to additional taxes, such as Additional
   Medicare Tax;
3. Have self-employment income; or
4. Prefer the most accurate withholding for multiple job situations.

Income taxes are also withheld from an employee’s tips (indirectly by withholding from the employee’s regular pay), taxable fringe benefits and sick pay.

An employee may claim an exemption from income tax withholding if the employee had a right to a refund of all federal income tax withheld in the current year; and expects a refund of all federal income tax withheld in the next year.

In addition to possibly being required to pay interest and penalties for being under withheld, an employee may be subject to a penalty of $500 if the employee made statements on Form W-4 that reduced the amount of tax withheld; and had no reasonable basis for those statements.

A criminal penalty may also apply for willfully supplying false or fraudulent information on the form or for willfully failing to supply information that would increase the amount withheld. The penalty upon conviction can be a fine of up to $1,000 or imprisonment for up to one year, or both

To enter the employee's filing status and withholding allowances:

In the employee app (web):

1. Login to https://mygo.employeronthego.com/
2. From the left sidebar menu, select "My Pay"
3. Select "W4"
4. Select the "Edit" button
5. Review/edit the W-4 fields
6. Select the "Save and Confirm Federal W-4" button

In the employer portal (admin.ludtpayroll.com):

1. On the dashboard, select View Employees
2. Select the employee's name on the employee table.
3. Select the Withholding tab.
4. Scroll to the page bottom and select the Edit button to unlock the form fields.
5. Update the form fields with the employee’s updated W-4 details.
6. Select Save

To print a Form W-4 for an employee:

1. Select the Reports menu, select Report Wizard
2. Set Report Type to Human Resources
3. Set Report Category to W-4, select Next
4. Select Division(s) if applicable, select Next 
5. Select Location(s) if applicable, select Next
6. Select Department(s)if applicable, select Next
7. Select Employee(s) if applicable, select Next
8. Select W-4 Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate.
9. Select Run Report
10. Print the Form W-4

Keep your employee's completed W-4 for your records. If an employee wants to make changes at a later date, print another form at that time.