Win $100! W-4 Suggestions Sweepstakes

[ErickaY]

This sweepstake has ended

Thank you so much to everyone that participated! We appreciate you sharing your experiences with our community. A winner will be randomly selected and contacted to claim their prize.

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A friendly welcome to our new and returning community members! 

We’re excited to share another sweepstake and another chance to win a $100 gift card with you. This month, we’re opening the discussion to anyone who has filled out a W-4 in the past. 

A W-4 is one of the first forms you fill out when you get a new job. This form indicates your federal income tax withholding preferences. For some, this form can be a bit overwhelming, more so if you aren’t familiar with taxes. Have you filled this form out and had too much or not enough taxes withheld? For our sweepstakes this month we will ask you to share any suggestions you may have about filling out the W-4. Replying to this post with your “W-4 suggestions” will enter you in a chance to win a $100 gift card. A winner will be randomly selected from this thread on May 24, 2023.     

If you have questions about filling out a W-4, please join us for a LIVE Q&A on Wednesday, May 24th any time between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm Pacific Time to ask Tax and Financial Experts your questions and get advice about taxes and personal finance, for free! Learn more and RSVP here.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

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We will be hosting the W-4 Suggestions sweepstakes to give you, and others, the opportunity to share your experiences. One lucky winner will be chosen randomly to receive a $100 gift card.

• WHAT: Sweepstakes for a $100 gift card
• WHEN: Entries will be accepted from May 10, 2023, through May 24, 2023, at 5:00 pm Pacific Time

HOW: Enter by adding a comment to this post sharing … If you are the winner, we will send you a private message. The winner will be selected at random on May 24, 2023.

[ErickaY]

This sweepstake has ended

Thank you so much to everyone that participated! We appreciate you sharing your experiences with our community. A winner will be randomly selected and contacted to claim their prize.

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[KellyA-confused consumer]

If the W-4 tax form were to be redesigned, the focus should be on simplifying and making the form more user-friendly. This can be achieved by eliminating unnecessary information and using plain English to ensure that employees can easily understand the form. Clear instructions should be provided to guide employees through the process and examples of how to fill out the form correctly can be included. A digital version of the form that can be filled out online with built-in validation would also be useful to reduce errors and save time.

By taking these steps, the redesigned W-4 form would be more accurate, simpler, and more user-friendly, making it easier for employees to understand and complete. Making it easier for Americans to honor their tax obligations. It's a lot easier to honor something when you understand why or how and your part in the process and your end result. The TurboTax Walk me step by step would be a great electronic version for the W-4 to start it's digit journey.

The more allowances you claim, the less tax your employer will withhold from your paycheck, and the fewer allowances you claim, the more tax your employer will withhold.

The more allowances you claim, the less tax will be taken out of your paycheck, but if you claim too many allowances, you might end up owing the IRS money at tax time.

If you're not sure how many allowances to claim, you can use the IRS withholding calculator to help you figure it out.

It's important to fill out the W-4 form correctly, so that you don't end up owing the IRS money or receiving a large tax refund. If your personal situation changes, such as if you get married, have a child, or change jobs, you'll need to update your W-4 form to reflect those changes.

[mhertzer]

I am really looking for this LIVE Q&A from TurboTax.   I got confused, if my my personal situation didn't changed at all, then why my W4 need to be updated, I didn't updated for 2022 and I ended owing money to the IRS. 

[_H_]

I would like to have zero owed to the IRS and a zero refund. Due to large deductions, I have been unable to do this. How can the W-4 be accurate?

[CheetahMez]

I have had to pay taxes at the end of the year, so I'm withholding more on my w-4 to avoid owing taxes.

[Alex133]

The w-4 was easy to fill out when I was single and just graduated with my first job. Now that I am married with dual-income and recently moved to a new state, I was hit with a huge tax bill. I discovered the IRS tool to now update my w-4 with additional withholdings, so I can avoid that large tax bill next spring.

[Ken-74]

This is a suggestion for all tax planning not just the W-4 issues as stated within this post community!

With years of fretting over the same issues through my working career and now in retirement, the consistent question we all face is "What will our taxes be, come the end of the year"?  And that drives our choices on the W-4 or planned withholding once you are in retirement. The second question is, "What do you want at the end of year - a refund or to pay"?

The tool to answer the first question is this very product you are using now - TurboTax. I have used this product to answer this important question for years. TurboTax is not just a tax reporting tool; it can also serve as a planning tool as well.

Here are the steps: (new job, old job, changing job, life changes - new family, etc.)

First - Use TurboTax as a planning tool and fill in the details that fit your life as if it were the end of the year. This will give you an idea of your taxes both Federal and State as of the last tax code update. (You have to accept this is going to be off by that which the tax code changes and the tax tables change but it will be better than a guess). You have the data to fill out the TurboTax fields even if you just changed jobs or this is you first job - what will your wages be, what will your deductions be - projected on both. If you have prior years of TurboTax experience, use those numbers to help you with the detail. This is a "working" copy of your tax status and liabilities so update it through the year as data changes or becomes known (raises, second job, marriage, divorce, children, etc.).

Second - Use the TurboTax forms options to get data on your taxes, such as tax rate, comparisons year over year, etc. Review these MANY informational reports and understand them as they are worth your time. Using these forms as "what-if" results, make changes to your copy of TurboTax and see the results to your taxes as displayed in TurboTax. This data will be your guide in filling out the W-4 and tax withholding plan depending on your situation.

You can create multiple "versions" of your tax return by saving versions of your TurboTax file with different names as you wish. Use a name that makes sense for the data you are entering into that version of your return. My naming conventions look like this: "2023 - chg to stock div xyz co". Then I know what I'm tracking in this version. I do not know of any limit to how many versions you can create. But make the name meaningful so you know which version is showing what changes. I enter all the data that is known at the time and have just a few (one income and one expense) categories that I use to make changes to and make changes to those fields only, then track the results - a more scientific approach! 

Once you have this done, you will know what results are needed from your W-4 entries and you will be able to reduce or eliminate the surprises at tax time. And you can more accurately achieve the results you wish. A note on that - if you like having a return, consider that you are effectively providing the government with an interest free loan for the year as well. I strive to pay a small amount at year-end and keep my funds invested earning me income through the year, but this is a very personal choice. However, using TurboTax as a planning tool, you will have the information to make the adjustments to your W-4 to achieve the results as you wish. 

Best wishes to all!

[hdriver2015]

“W-4 suggestions” I recommend using TurboTax's W4 calculator to get an estimate of your federal tax withholding W-4 Calculator | IRS Tax Withholding Calculator 2023-2024 | TurboTax (intuit.com) and learning what a W4 form is by reviewing  What Is a W-4 Form? - TurboTax Tax Tips & Videos (intuit.com). In addition, I recommend speaking with a tax advisor if it's difficult to find free resources to guide you through completing the form.

[Monica02]

The new W-4 is way more complicated to fill out than the previous one. It should be redesigned to be easier to complete.