IRS Temporary Guidance on Form W-4

From today’s NATP e-newsletter, Guidance on Form W-4  Withholding under Tax Cuts Act:

The IRS has issued Notice 2018-14, which extends the effective period of Forms W-4 furnished to claim exemption from income tax withholding for 2017 until Feb. 28, 2018, and temporarily allows employees to claim exemption from withholding for 2018.

The notice suspends a requirement that employees must give their employers new W-4 forms within 10 days of a change of status resulting in fewer withholding allowances. However, the 2018 Form W-4 might not be released until after Feb. 15.

The IRS is currently working on revising Form W-4 to reflect the changes made by the Tax Cuts Act, such as changes in available itemized deductions, increases in the child tax credit, the new dependent credit and the repeal of dependent exemptions.

The new guidance also specifies that the optional withholding rate on supplemental wage payments is 22 percent for taxable years 2018 through 2025.

I’ve had a few folks asking whether they should just keep using last year’s version of W-4, and the answer is yes!

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