It’s here! IRS rolls out final Form W-4 for 2020

The IRS has released the final 2020 version of Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Certificate.

The IRS stood its ground and dropped the word “Allowance” from the title of the form, as well as dropping withholding allowances from the body of the form.

Like the two drafts that preceded it, this W-4 is based on five steps; only Steps 1 and 5 are mandatory for employees to complete.

What’s new: Some minor editorial changes have been made to the text in Step 2.

The IRS has yet to release the final version of Pub. 15-T, which will contain all the 2020 worksheets and withholding methods. We will post those as soon as they are available.

Who files the 2020 W-4

The following employees should complete a 2020 W-4 and return it to you promptly:

• Employees who will begin working for you in 2020
• Widows or widowers whose spouses died within the previous two years
• Employees who won’t be able to claim an individual as a tax dependent in 2020
• Employees whose divorce or separation will become final in 2020, if they are claiming married filing jointly on their current W-4s
• Employees who anticipate losing other withholding allowances in 2020

Employees who won’t be able to claim an exemption from withholding in 2020 (technically, these employees can wait until the middle of February to refile).