When can the W4 Calculator be used for 2025?

[billnorthraleigh]

I've had a similar experience in 2024 when I wanted to estimate my federal withholding in early March of 2024. The calculator https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calculators/w4/ did not work properly, as if it was stuck in 2023. I waited till after the tax day of 2024, and the problem went away.

Now 2025 comes. I waited till May to try the W4 calculator, knowing that I would get the correct version after the tax filing season. However, the page is titled in 2024, even though there is a description mentioning 2025. When I plugged in some dates of last and next paycheck in 2025, the final result was ridiculously off. This makes me think that the calculator is still stuck in 2024. I plugged in my dates, as if they're in 2024, then the result seems to be more reasonable, or comparable to those given by IRS and Quicken Tax Planner.

Here are my questions:

1. When will this calculator be updated for 2025?

2. What is the normal expectation of this tool in a new tax year -- what is the normal timeframe when this tool becomes applicable to the current year, in general?

3. If there's a development cycle for this tool, can the page at least show such information so that it doesn't mislead users?

[AmeliesUncle]

---

@billnorthraleigh wrote:

or comparable to those given by IRS and Quicken Tax Planner.

---

Out of curiosity, why don't you just use the other planners that are more trustworthy?

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/tax-withholding-estimator

[fanfare]

The official uptodate withholding estimator is on the IRS website.

@billnorthraleigh 

[billnorthraleigh]

I do use them, but the Turbotax one has a nice feature on the final screen -- a slider to see the effect of extra withholding amount. It is the most intuitive among the three.

I get it that I can just use the IRS tool, but that's not my question. If Turbotax doesn't want to offer this tool anymore, why still showing it? An outdated and inaccurate tool on your website isn't going to boost Turbotax users' confidence in your product.

[AmeliesUncle]

---

@billnorthraleigh wrote:

An outdated and inaccurate tool on your website isn't going to boost Turbotax users' confidence in your product.

---

Unfortunately, if you look closely at TurboTax, there is A LOT of so-call "guidance" that is outdated and inaccurate.  If you are looking for current and accurate information, TurboTax is not a product you should be using.

That is one thing Intuit likes to do: Make things look pretty to draw in customers, then after that the company doesn't really care anymore.