Wage Withholding

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On October 6, the IRS published final regulations addressing changes made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “TCJA”) to how an employee instructs an employer to withhold income taxes based on the employee’s Form W-4 (Employee’s Withholding Certificate).  These final regulations were issued only 8 months after the proposed regulations were published (see earlier coverage), which is considered warp-speed in IRS time. The Preamble to the final regulations provide a new method for employers who must continue to rely on pre-2020 Forms W-4 to determine the amount of federal income tax to withhold from employee’s wages.
Continue Reading Preamble to Final Regulations on the Mechanics of Income Tax Withholding Provide Transition Method for Pre-2020 Forms W-4

Today, the IRS unveiled its new Tax Withholding Estimator to help employees complete the Form W-4 and ensure that withholdings are sufficient to cover their income tax liability.  The new calculator was previewed in the draft 2020 Form W-4.  (See earlier coverage.)  A near-final draft 2020 Form W-4 is expected to be released soon.  Currently, the calculator provides guidance to employees regarding how to complete the 2019 Form W-4 based on the information they provide and whether they wish to match their withholding to their estimated tax liability or receive a refund.

The calculator has been updated to reflect the changes made to the Internal Revenue Code by 2017 tax reform legislation, such as the elimination of personal exemptions.   To use the calculator, an employee provides information regarding the income that he or she and his or her spouse earn at each job, tax withholding per pay period, and tax withholding year-to-date.  The calculator allows an employee to input information regarding qualified retirement plan contributions (it is worth noting that the results page displays only the amount included in box for the employee’s contribution, but the calculation appears to take into account any contribution made by a spouse), cafeteria plan salary reductions (for HSAs, FSAs, dependent care accounts, health insurance, adoption assistance, group-term life, etc.), and other pre-tax reductions, such as for qualified transportation fringes.  The prompt, however, does not make it clear what should be included in the total as employees may be unfamiliar with the term “cafeteria plan” and no reference is made in the prompt to qualified transportation fringes.  In addition, the income information asks for “wages” and if the employee inputs “taxable wages” from his or her paystub and then includes pre-tax deductions, the recommendations may result in too little withholding.  The calculator includes expandable tips that explain that “total wages” means “gross wages” before any pre-tax reductions, but employees may not complete the form without seeing the additional guidance, which is only visible if the employee clicks on a question mark.
Continue Reading IRS Releases Updated Tax Withholding Estimator

In a news release, the IRS today announced that it anticipates issuing initial withholding guidance to implement the changes under the tax reform bill in January 2018.  Employers and payroll service providers are encouraged to implement the changes in February.  In the release, the IRS indicated that the withholding guidance will work with the existing…