W-4 Instructions and Worksheets



	Form W-4 (2019)

	Future developments. For the latest information about any future developments related to Form W-4, such as legislation enacted after it was published, go to www.irs.gov/FormW4. Purpose. Complete Form W-4 so that your employer can withhold the correct federal income tax from your pay. Consider completing a new Form W-4 each year and when your personal or financial situation changes. Exemption from withholding. You may claim exemption from withholding for 2019 if both of the following apply. • For 2018 you had a right to a refund of all federal income tax withheld because you had no tax liability, and • For 2019 you expect a refund of all federal income tax withheld because you expect to have no tax liability. If you’re exempt, complete only lines 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7 and sign the form to validate it. Your exemption for 2019 expires February 17, 2020. See Pub. 505, Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax, to learn more about whether you qualify for exemption from withholding.

	General Instructions If you aren’t exempt, follow the rest of these instructions to determine the number of withholding allowances you should claim for withholding for 2019 and any additional amount of tax to have withheld. For regular wages, withholding must be based on allowances you claimed and may not be a flat amount or percentage of wages. You can also use the calculator at www.irs.gov/W4App to determine your tax withholding more accurately. Consider using this calculator if you have a more complicated tax situation, such as if you have a working spouse, more than one job, or a large amount of nonwage income outside of your job. After your Form W-4 takes effect, you can also use this calculator to see how the amount of tax you’re having withheld compares to your projected total tax for 2019. If you use the calculator, you don’t need to complete any of the worksheets for Form W-4. Note that if you have too much tax withheld, you will receive a refund when you file your tax return. If you have too little tax withheld, you will owe tax when you file your tax return, and you might owe a penalty. Filers with multiple jobs or working spouses. If you have more than one job at a time, or if you’re married filing jointly and your spouse is also working, read all of the instructions including the instructions for the Two-Earners/Multiple Jobs Worksheet before beginning. Nonwage income. If you have a large amount of nonwage income not subject to withholiding, such as interest or dividends, consider making estimated tax payments using Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals. Otherwise, you might owe additional tax. Or, you can use the Deductions, Adjustments, and Additional Income Worksheet or the calculator at www.irs.gov/W4App to make sure you have enough tax withheld from your paycheck. If you have pension or annuity income, see Pub. 505 or use the calculator at www.irs.gov/W4App to find out if you should adjust your withholding on Form W-4 or W-4P. Nonresident alien. If you’re a nonresident alien, see Notice 1392, Supplemental Form W-4 Instructions for Nonresident Aliens, before completing this form.

	Specific Instructions Personal Allowances Worksheet Complete this worksheet first to determine the number of withholding allowances to claim. Line C. Head of household please note: Generally, you can claim head of household filing status on your tax return only if you’re unmarried and pay more than 50% of the costs of keeping up a home for yourself and a qualifying individual. See Pub. 501 for more information about filing status. Line E. Child tax credit. When you file your tax return, you may be eligible to claim a child tax credit for each of your eligible children. To qualify, the child must be under age 17 as of December 31 and must be your dependent who lives with you for more than half the year, and must have a valid social security number. To learn more about this credit, see Pub. 972, Child Tax Credit. To reduce the tax withheld from your pay by taking this credit into account, follow the instructions on line E of the worksheet. On the worksheet you will be asked about your total income. For this purpose, total income includes all of your wages and other income, including income earned by a spouse if you are filing a joint return. Line F. Credit for other dependents. When you file your tax return, you may be eligible to claim a credit for other dependents for whom a child tax credit can't be claimed, such as a qualifying child who doesn't meet the age or social security number requirement for the child tax credit, or a qualifying relative. To learn more about this credit, see Pub. 972. To reduce the tax withheld from your pay by taking this credit into account, follow the instructions on line F of the worksheet. On the worksheet, you will be asked about your total income. For this purpose, total income includes all of your wages and other income, including income earned by a spouse if you are filing a joint return. Line G. Other credits. You may be able to reduce the tax withheld from your paycheck if you expect to claim other tax credits, such as tax credits for education (see Pub. 970). If you do so, your paycheck will be larger but the amount of any refund that you receive when you file your tax return will be smaller. Follow the instructions for Worksheet 1-6 in Pub. 505 if you want to reduce your withholding to take these credits into account. Enter "-0-" on lines E and F if you use Worksheet 1-6.

	Deductions, Adjustments, and Additional Income Worksheet Complete this worksheet to determine if you’re able to reduce the tax withheld from your paycheck to account for your itemized deductions and other adjustments to income such as IRA contributions. If you do so, your refund at the end of the year will be smaller, but your paycheck will be larger. You’re not required to complete this worksheet or reduce your withholding if you don’t wish to do so. You can also use this worksheet to figure out how much to increase the tax withheld from your paycheck if you have a large amount of nonwage income not subject to withholding, such as interest or dividends. Another option is to take these items into account and make your withholding more accurate by using the calculator at www.irs.gov/W4App. If you use the calculator, you don’t need to complete any of the worksheets for Form W-4.

	Two-Earners/Multiple Jobs Worksheet Complete this worksheet if you have more than one job at a time or are married filing jointly and have a working spouse. If you don’t complete this worksheet, you might have too little tax withheld. If so, you will owe tax when you file your tax return and might be subject to a penalty. Figure the total number of allowances you’re entitled to claim and any additional amount of tax to withhold on all jobs using worksheets from only one Form W-4. Claim all allowances on the W-4 that you or your spouse file for the highest paying job in your family and claim zero allowances on Forms W-4 filed for all other jobs. For example, if you earn $60,000 per year and your spouse earns $20,000, you should complete the worksheets to determine what to enter on lines 5 and 6 of your Form W-4, and your spouse should enter zero (“-0-”) on lines 5 and 6 of his or her Form W-4. See Pub. 505 for details. Another option is to use the calculator at www.irs.gov/W4App to make your withholding more accurate. Tip: If you have a working spouse and your incomes are similar, you can check the “Married, but withhold at higher Single rate” box instead of using this worksheet. If you choose this option, then each spouse should fill out the Personal Allowances Worksheet and check the “Married, but withhold at higher Single rate” box on Form W-4, but only one spouse should claim any allowances for credits or fill out the Deductions, Adjustments, and Additional Income Worksheet.

	Instructions for Employer Employees, do not complete box 8, 9, or 10. Your employer will complete these boxes if necessary. New hire reporting. Employers are required by law to report new employees to a designated State Directory of New Hires. Employers may use Form W-4, boxes 8, 9, and 10 to comply with the new hire reporting requirement for a newly hired employee. A newly hired employee is an employee who hasn’t previously been employed by the employer, or who was previously employed by the employer but has been separated from such prior employment for at least 60 consecutive days. Employers should contact the appropriate State Directory of New Hires to find out how to submit a copy of the completed Form W-4. For information and links to each designated State Directory of New Hires (including for U.S. territories), go to www.acf.hhs.gov/css/employers. If an employer is sending a copy of Form W-4 to a designated State Directory of New Hires to comply with the new hire reporting requirement for a newly hired employee, complete boxes 8, 9, and 10 as follows. Box 8. Enter the employer’s name and address. If the employer is sending a copy of this form to a State Directory of New Hires, enter the address where child support agencies should send income withholding orders. Box 9. If the employer is sending a copy of this form to a State Directory of New Hires, enter the employee’s first date of employment, which is the date services for payment were first performed by the employee. If the employer rehired the employee after the employee had been separated from the employer’s service for at least 60 days, enter the rehire date. Box 10. Enter the employer’s employer identification number (EIN).

Form W-4 (2019)

Personal Allowances Worksheet (Keep for your records.)

Enter "1" for yourself

Enter "1" if you will file as married filing jointly

Enter "1" if you will file as head of household

• You’re single, or married filing separately, and have only one job; or

Enter "1" if:

• You’re married filing jointly, have only one job, and your spouse doesn’t work; or

• Your wages from a 2nd job or your spouse’s wages (or the total of both) are $1,500 or less.

Child Tax Credit. See Pub. 972, Child Tax Credit, for more information.

• If your total income will be less than $71,201 ($103,351 if married filing jointly), enter “4” for each eligible child;

• If your total income will be from $71,201 to $179,050 ($103,351 to $345,850 if married filing jointly),

enter "2" for each eligible child.

• If your total income will be from $179,051 to $200,000 ($345,851 to $400,000 if married filing jointly),

enter "1" for each eligible child.

• If your total income will be higher than $200,000 ($400,000 if married filing jointly), enter "-0-".

Credit for other dependents. See Pub. 972, Child Tax Credit, for more information.

• If your total income will be less than $71,201 ($103,351 if married filing jointly), enter “1” for each dependent.

• If your total income will be from $71,201 to $179,050 ($103,351 to $345,850 if married filing jointly),

enter "1" for every two dependents (for example, "-0-" for one dependent, "1" if you have two or three dependents,

and "2" if you have four dependents).

• If your total income will be higher than $179,050 ($345,850 if married filing jointly), enter "-0-".

Other credits. If you have other credits, see Worksheet 1-6 of Pub. 505 and enter the amount from that

worksheet here. If you use Worksheet 1-6, enter "-0-" on lines E and F

Total of lines A through G. Note: This may be different from the number of exemptions you claim on your tax return.

• If you plan to itemize or claim adjustments to income and want to reduce your withholding, or if you

have a large amount of nonwage income not subject to withholding and want to increase your withholding,

For accuracy, complete all worksheets that apply.

see the Deductions, Adjustments, and Additional Income Worksheet web form.

• If you have more than one job at a time or are married filing jointly and you and your spouse both work

and the combined earnings from all jobs exceed $53,000 ($24,450 if married filing jointly), use the optional

Two-Earners/Multiple Jobs Worksheet web form to avoid having too little tax withheld.

• If neither of the above situations applies, stop here and enter the number from line H on line 5 of Form W-4.


Form W-4 (2019)
Deductions, Adjustments, and Additional Income Worksheet
Note: Use this worksheet only if you plan to itemize deductions, claim certain adjustments to income, or have a large amount
of nonwage income not subject to withholding.
1	Enter an estimate of your 2019 itemized deductions.
	These include qualifying home mortgage interest, charitable contributions, state and local taxes
	(up to $10,000), and medical expenses in excess of 10% of your income. See Pub. 505 for details		1	$
		• $24,400 if you're married filing jointly or qualifying widow(er)
2	Enter:	• $18,350 if you're head of household	2	$
		• $12,200 if you're single or married filing separately
3	Subtract line 2 from line 1. If zero or less, enter “-0-”		3	$
4	Enter an estimate of your 2019 adjustments to income, qualified business income deduction,		4	$
	and any additional standard deduction for age or blindness (see Pub. 505 for details)
5	Add lines 3 and 4 and enter the total		5	$
6	Enter an estimate of your 2019 nonwage income not subject to withholdng (dividends or interest)		6	$
7	Subtract line 6 from line 5. If zero, enter “-0-”. If less than zero, enter the negative amount		7	$
8	Divide the amount on line 7 by $4,200 and enter the result here. Drop any fraction		8
9	Enter the number from the Personal Allowances Worksheet, line H		9
10	Add lines 8 and 9 and enter the total here. If zero or less, enter “-0-”. If you plan to use the
	Two-Earners/Multiple Jobs Worksheet, also enter this total on line 1 of that worksheet.
	Otherwise, stop here and enter this total on Form W-4, line 5.		10


Form W-4 (2019)
Two-Earners/Multiple Jobs Worksheet
Note: Use this worksheet only if the instructions under line H from the Personal Allowances Worksheet direct you here.
1	Enter the number from the Personal Allowances Worksheet, line H, (or, if you used the Deductions,							1
	Adjustments, and Additional Income Worksheet, the number from line 10 of that worksheet)
2	Find the number in Table 1 below that applies to the LOWEST paying job and enter it here. However, if you're							2
	married filing jointly and wages from the highest paying job are $75,000 or less and the combined wages for you
	and your spouse are $107,000 or less, don’t enter more than “3”
3	If line 1 is more than or equal to line 2, subtract line 2 from line 1. Enter the result here (if zero, enter “-0-”)							3
	and on Form W-4, line 5. Do not use the rest of this worksheet.
Note: If line 1 is less than line 2, enter “-0-” on Form W-4, line 5
	Complete lines 4 through 9 below to figure the additional withholding amount necessary to avoid a year-end tax bill.
4	Enter the number from line 2 of this worksheet			4
5	Enter the number from line 1 of this worksheet			5
6	Subtract line 5 from line 4							6
7	Find the amount in Table 2 below that applies to the HIGHEST paying job and enter it here							7
8	Multiply line 7 by line 6 and enter the result here. This is the additional annual withholding needed							8
9	Enter the number of pay periods remaining in 2019. Divide line 8 by the number of pay periods.
	Enter the result here and on Form W-4, line 6.
	This is the additional amount to be withheld from each paycheck.							9


Table 1					Table 2
Married Filing Jointly			All Others		Married Filing Jointly		All Others
If wages of LOWEST		Enter on	If wages of LOWEST	Enter on	If wages of HIGHEST	Enter on	If wages of HIGHEST		Enter on
paying job are . . .		line 2 above	paying job are . . .	line 2 above	paying job are . . .	line 7 above	paying job are . . .		line 7 above

$0 - $5,000		0	$0 - $7,000	0	$0 - $24,900	$420	$0 - $7,200		$420
5,001 - 9,500		1	7,001 - 13,000	1	24,901 - 84,450	500	7,201 - 36,975		500
9,501 - 19,500		2	13,001 - 27,500	2	84,451 - 173,900	910	36,976 - 81,700		910
19,501 - 35,000		3	27,501 - 32,000	3	173,901 - 326,950	1,000	81,701 - 158,225		1,000
35,001 - 40,000		4	32,001 - 40,000	4	326,951 - 413,700	1,330	158,226 - 201,600		1,330
40,001 - 46,000		5	40,001 - 60,000	5	413,701 - 617,850	1,450	201,601 - 507,800		1,450
46,001 - 55,000		6	60,001 - 75,000	6	617,851 and over	1,540	507,801 and over		1,540
55,001 - 60,000		7	75,001 - 85,000	7
60,001 - 70,000		8	85,001 - 95,000	8
70,001 - 75,000		9	95,001 - 100,000	9
75,001 - 85,000		10	100,001 - 110,000	10
85,001 - 95,000		11	110,001 - 115,000	11
95,001 - 125,000		12	115,001 - 125,000	12
125,001 - 155,000		13	125,001 - 135,000	13
155,001 - 165,000		14	135,001 - 145,000	14
165,001 - 175,000		15	145,001 - 160,000	15
175,001 - 180,000		16	160,001 - 180,000	16
180,001 - 195,000		17	180,001 and over	17
195,001 - 205,000		18
205,001 and over		19

Privacy Act and Paperwork Reduction Act Notice. We ask for the information on this form to carry out the Internal Revenue laws of the United States. Internal Revenue Code sections 3402(f)(2) and 6109 and their regulations require you to provide this information; your employer uses it to determine your federal income tax withholding. Failure to provide a properly completed form will result in your being treated as a single person who claims no withholding allowances; providing fraudulent information may subject you to penalties. Routine uses of this information include giving it to the Department of Justice for civil and criminal litigation; to cities, states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. commonwealths and possessions for use in administering their tax laws; and to the Department of Health and Human Services for use in the National Directory of New Hires. We may also disclose this information to other countries under a tax treaty, to federal and state agencies to enforce federal nontax criminal laws, or to federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies to combat terrorism.					You are not required to provide the information requested on a form that is subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act unless the form displays a valid OMB control number. Books or records relating to a form or its instructions must be retained as long as their contents may become material in the administration of any Internal Revenue law. Generally, tax returns and return information are confidential, as required by Code section 6103. The average time and expenses required to complete and file this form will vary depending on individual circumstances. For estimated averages, see the instructions for your income tax return. If you have suggestions for making this form simpler, we would be happy to hear from you. See the instructions for your income tax return.