Step 1: Enter Personal Information(a) name, (b) SSN, address, and (c) filing status, which sets the standard deduction and tax rates used to compute withholding. Head of household is only for unmarried employees who pay more than half the costs of keeping up a home for a qualifying individual.Click to open the row in the table belowStep 2: Multiple Jobs or Spouse WorksFor employees with more than one job or a working spouse: the IRS estimator, the Multiple Jobs Worksheet result entered in Step 4(c), or the two-jobs checkbox in 2(c), which halves the standard deduction and brackets for each job.Click to open the row in the table belowStep 3: Claim Dependent and Other CreditsFor income of $200,000 or less ($400,000 joint): $2,200 per qualifying child under 17 and $500 per other dependent, plus other credits,, entered as one total.Click to open the row in the table belowStep 4: Other Adjustments(a) other income not from jobs, (b) deductions from the worksheet (now including qualified tips, overtime, car loan interest and the senior deduction), (c) extra withholding per pay period. The Exempt from withholding checkbox printed below 4(c) applies only to the year shown and needs a new form for 2027.Click to open the row in the table belowStep 5: Sign Here and Employers OnlyThe form is not valid unless the employee signs it. The employer completes the Employers Only box (name and address, first date of employment, EIN); many states accept a copy of the W-4 with employer information added as the new hire report.Click to open the row in the table belowHover over a line for what goes on it; click to open its row in the table below. On a touch screen, tap the line to jump to the row.
Who files Form W-4
Every employee should give the employer a signed Form W-4 when they start work, effective with the first wage payment. If a new employee (including a rehire) gives you no completed 2026 form, withhold as if they checked Single or Married filing separately in Step 1(c) and made no entries in Steps 2 to 4. A W-4 from 2025 or earlier stays in effect until replaced; an employee paid before 2020 need not file a new form just because of the redesign.
The employer does not file the W-4. Pub 15 says “When requested by the IRS, you must make original Forms W-4 available for inspection,” and the IRS may by notice direct you to send copies for named employees. New hire reporting is a state requirement: Pub 15 notes “You’re required to report any new employee to a designated state new hire registry,” and many states accept a copy of the W-4 with employer information added.
Nonresident alien employees follow special rules (no exemption claim, single filing status, write NRA below Step 4(c)); a treaty exemption is claimed on Form 8233, not the W-4.
Line by line
| Line | What it is | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Step 1 | Enter Personal Information | (a) name, (b) SSN, address, and (c) filing status, which sets the standard deduction and tax rates used to compute withholding. Head of household is only for unmarried employees who pay more than half the costs of keeping up a home for a qualifying individual. |
| Step 2 | Multiple Jobs or Spouse Works | For employees with more than one job or a working spouse: the IRS estimator, the Multiple Jobs Worksheet result entered in Step 4(c), or the two-jobs checkbox in 2(c), which halves the standard deduction and brackets for each job. |
| Step 3 | Claim Dependent and Other Credits | For income of $200,000 or less ($400,000 joint): $2,200 per qualifying child under 17 and $500 per other dependent, plus other credits,, entered as one total. |
| Step 4 | Other Adjustments | (a) other income not from jobs, (b) deductions from the worksheet (now including qualified tips, overtime, car loan interest and the senior deduction), (c) extra withholding per pay period. The Exempt from withholding checkbox printed below 4(c) applies only to the year shown and needs a new form for 2027. |
| Step 5 | Sign Here and Employers Only | The form is not valid unless the employee signs it. The employer completes the Employers Only box (name and address, first date of employment, EIN); many states accept a copy of the W-4 with employer information added as the new hire report. |
Due dates
| What | Due | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| New employee | By the first wage payment | Make the form effective with the first wage payment; without one, withhold as Single or Married filing separately with no other entries. |
| Replacement Form W-4 | Start of the first payroll period ending on or after the 30th day after you receive it | Do not adjust withholding for pay periods before the new form's effective date. |
| Employee renews a 2026 exempt claim for 2027 | February 16, 2027 (2026 Form W-4); Pub 15 states the general rule as February 15 | If none is received, begin withholding as Single or Married filing separately with no entries; a later exempt form applies only to future wages, with no refund of tax withheld. |
| IRS lock-in letter: employee copy | Within 10 business days of receipt | If the employee still works for you on the date of the notice. |
| IRS lock-in letter: withholding | Wages paid after the date specified in the notice | You may not withhold on the basis of the notice immediately. |
Penalties
The W-4 penalty runs against the employee: Pub 15 says “An employee who submits a false Form W-4 may be subject to a $500 penalty.” The employer's exposure is in the withholding: income tax that should have been withheld and was not, or was withheld and not deposited, falls under the employment tax rules, and the trust fund recovery penalty can reach responsible persons at “100% of the unpaid trust fund tax.” See Form 941.
Corrections
There is no corrected W-4. The employee gives you a new one, and you apply it prospectively. If the IRS has issued a lock-in letter, a new W-4 that claims exemption or results in less withholding is disregarded unless the IRS tells you otherwise, while one that results in more withholding must be honored. A modification notice from the IRS replaces the earlier instructions from its effective date.
When you receive an invalid W-4, do not use it: tell the employee and ask for another. Until a valid form arrives, withhold under the last valid W-4 on file, or as Single or Married filing separately with no entries if there is none.
Where it goes wrong
- Altered forms. “Any unauthorized change or addition to Form W-4 makes it invalid,” including removing the certification language. Employee-designed substitute forms are treated as no form at all.
- Exempt plus entries. You may treat as invalid a form where the employee wrote exempt below Step 4(c) and also checked Step 2(c) or made entries in Steps 3 and 4.
- Fixed amounts. Employees “may not base their withholding amounts on a fixed dollar amount or percentage”; they may add an extra amount in Step 4(c). Do not accept separate withholding or estimated tax payments from employees.
- Exempt claims carried forward. An exempt W-4 is effective only for the calendar year given; withholding has to restart if no new form arrives by the February deadline.
- Lock-in letters ignored. The IRS uses W-2 data to identify serious under-withholding and may issue a lock-in letter specifying filing status and withholding for an employee; it continues to bind for rehires within 12 months. Pre-2020 lock-in letters still apply.
- Confusing W-4 and W-9. A W-4 is for employees; contractors give a Form W-9 and are reported on a 1099, not a W-2.
Inside the IRS: what happens to Form W-4
You do not send W-4s to the IRS. IRM 5.19.11 says “The requirement for employers to routinely submit copies of questionable Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Certificate to the IRS has been eliminated.” You submit copies only “if directed to do so in a written notice to the employer” or by published guidance. Until then, “An employer must honor a valid withholding certificate furnished by an employee until the IRS provides the employer with written notice to disregard it (a lock-in letter).”
How the IRS finds underwithheld employees. The Withholding Compliance Program runs off your W-2s: “W-2 records filed with the SSA are subsequently transmitted to the IRS and loaded into the Information Returns Master File (IRMF).” Cases are created each June. When a problem is found, a “lock-in letter systemically issued” goes out, with no request for the W-4 itself.
The lock-in letters. Letter 2800C goes to you and Letter 2801C to the employee, mailed at the same time. Letter 2800C “instructs the employer to disregard Form W-4 submitted by the taxpayer and withhold at the filing status and withholding rate determined by the IRS,” starting “with the first pay period ending on or after 60 days from the date of the letter.” The employee has 30 days to ask the IRS for a change. After that:
- A later W-4 from the employee is ignored unless it gives more withholding: if it “will result in MORE income tax withholding than at the status and rate specified in our notice, the employer must honor the Form W-4.”
- If the IRS changes or lifts the lock-in, you get Letter 2808C (modified lock-in) or Letter 2809C (release). Follow the latest letter.
- If you call, the IRS will confirm only the status, rate and any Step 3 or Step 4(c) amounts; staff are told “Do NOT discuss Form W-4 calculations or case selection criteria.”
- If the person no longer works for you, the IRM tells staff to take no action on that reply, so you do not need to write back.
Why ignoring a lock-in costs the employer. Under IRC 3403, “The employer is liable for the appropriate amount of withholding whether or not it is actually deducted from the employee’s pay,” and the IRM adds that this “includes tax computed according to the withholding instructions we give the employer in a lock-in letter.”
Invalid W-4s and the employee penalty. “Any alteration of, or unauthorized addition to a Form W-4 makes it invalid,” for example a crossed-out penalties of perjury statement. Tell the employee, ask for a new form, and until you get one withhold at single with no reductions, or keep using the employee's prior valid W-4. The employee, not the employer, faces the $500 IRC 6682 penalty for a false W-4 with no reasonable basis.
Questions people ask about Form W-4
Do we send Forms W-4 to the IRS?
No, unless the IRS directs you to by notice or published guidance. Keep them and make originals available for inspection on request.
When does an exempt W-4 expire?
It is effective only for the calendar year. Pub 15 gives February 15 as the date to receive a new one; the 2026 Form W-4 tells employees to submit a new form by February 16, 2027. After that, withhold as Single or Married filing separately with no entries.
An employee handed us a W-4 with Exempt written in and dependents entered. Use it?
You may treat it as invalid. Ask for a new one, and keep withholding under the prior valid W-4 (or as Single or Married filing separately with no entries).
We received a lock-in letter. The employee says to ignore it.
You cannot. Give the employee their copy within 10 business days, begin withholding as the letter specifies from the date it gives, and disregard any new W-4 that would reduce withholding below it. The employee must contact the IRS.
Do employees with old pre-2020 W-4s need new ones?
No. Those forms remain valid; you figure withholding under Pub 15-T for 2019 and earlier forms, or with the optional computational bridge.
Is a W-4 our new hire report?
Not by itself. New hire reporting is to a state registry; many states accept a copy of the W-4 with employer information added.
Other employer, withholding and ACA forms
Payroll and employment tax returns: 941 · 941-X · 944 · 943 · 940 · W-2 · W-3 · W-2c · 8027
Withholding returns: 945 · 1042
Health coverage (ACA) returns: 1095-C · 1094-C · 1095-B · 1094-B
Paper transmittal: 1096
All of them on one table · Information returns (1099 series)
Sources: 2026 Form W-4 (including General and Specific Instructions on the form); Pub 15 (2026) sections 2, 9 and the calendar; IRC 3402(f)(2), 6109.