W-4 Withholding and Tax Reform

[MariP]

On December 22, the President signed the tax reform bill into law that made sweeping changes to the tax law.

Now that you have filed your 2017 taxes and the year is more than half way over, you may be wondering what to expect and what moves you should make now since most tax laws will change for tax year 2018. One of the most important moves you can make is to do a summertime check-up and make sure you have the correct amount of withholding taken out of your paycheck since you may be seeing more money in your paycheck related to lower tax rates under the new law.

TurboTax has you covered and can help you adjust your withholding allowance on your W-4 with the TurboTax W-4 Withholding Calculator, which has been updated to reflect 2018 tax law changes.

How will the new tax laws impact my withholding on my paycheck?

Under the new rules, individual tax rates are being lowered to 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35% and 37%, and these new rates will be reflected in the amount of money being withheld from your 2018 paychecks, as well as your tax liability for 2018.

The IRS updated withholding tables with the new rates for employers to use during 2018. Employers began using the new withholding information Feb. 15, 2018. The new withholding tables are designed to work with the Forms W-4 that workers have already filed with their employers to claim withholding allowances.

For people with simpler tax situations, the new tables are designed to produce the correct amount of tax withholding. The revisions are to help withhold the correct amounts from taxpayers’ paychecks. However, changes in the new law, such as changes in available itemized deductions, increases in the child tax credit, the new dependent credit and elimination of personal and dependent exemptions are not reflected in the revised withholding tables for 2018 and will impact your withholding on your paycheck.

The IRS revised the Form W-4 to reflect additional changes in the new law, such as changes in available itemized deductions, increases in the Child Tax Credit, the new dependent credit and repeal of dependent exemptions, so employees can update their withholding in response to the new tax law changes.

Each year, federal withholding should be close to your ultimate tax liability so you don’t owe money at tax time.

Do I need to file a new Form W-4 with my employer?

Because of  the changes to the 2018 tax laws, such as changes to itemized deductions, increased child tax credit to $2,000, the new dependent credit, and the eliminations of dependent and personal exemptions, you should file a new Form W-4 with your employer in response to the new tax law, if your personal situations changed, or if you started a new job.

Form W-4 (Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate) is completed and submitted to your employer so they know how much tax to withhold from your pay. Typically, you would file a new W-4 when your personal or financial situation changes. A W-4 form takes into account the number of people in your household, tax credits, deductions and other income, and if you have more than one job or you’re a two-earner household.

TurboTax W-4 Withholding Calculator will make it easy to see how many withholding allowances you should take to boost your tax refund — or your take-home pay and also includes the W-4 form that you can fill out and give to your employer.

Don’t worry about knowing the new tax laws. When it comes time to file, TurboTax has you covered and will be up to date with the latest tax policy information.

Originally published on our TurboTax Blog on August 10, 2018 / TurboTaxBlogTeam

[LBrowning]

The TurboTax W-4 withholding calculator does not have a space for income from bonus.  It only considers regular paychecks and other income sources, so it overestimates the withholding allowances for people who receive an annual or quarterly bonus.