How to use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator Tool (A walkthrough)

Use this tax tool to help your tax withholding selections on one of the following:

IRS Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Certificate

IRS Form W-4R, Withholding Certificate for Nonperiodic Payments and Eligible Rollovers

IRS Form W-4P, Withholding Certificate for Periodic Pension or Annuity Payments

[noy]

thank you for sharing, when i clicked on the estimator it did show the page that you showed.

[thru_and_thru]

Thank you sir! This is super helpful and your mouse clicking is weirdly relaxing haha.

[tracyzhang]

hi, I recently switch a job, I am using my current job’s information to fill out the W4, after I fill out the information, it said I am owning money. So For step 2, does my previous job count as multiple job too? Thanks you

[helenaczaban]

Thank you! I am curious, if I received a bonus at the beginning of the year, should this be included in both the wages/salary YTD *and* the "I got a bonus" question, or just one of the two?

[ddkell]

I’m unable to claim my children so I put 0 for dependents but I noticed it changes when you place a number in age in the section. Is it considering it as one dependent to place “0” in the age section? Should I leave it blank?

[kaisayles]

Do I enter expected commission payments as a lump sum in the "bonus" section? Should I use a Jan 15th paystub from this year in which i haven't received a commission check yet? So as not to throw off employer's current withholding amount? Thank you.

[kanishap]

Hi, for 401k how do you calculate amounts taken out if it’s different every pay period? Same for the state and federal the amount taken out is not the same every pay.

[Alese]

My salary is set but my husband's is commission and is a pretty significant amount of his weekly pay check. His commission is paid out over the course of 4 weeks for the month. So it's only predictable for 4 weeks at a time. How would I calculate his income? We really need help with this. We just got hit with an 8k tax bill. I want this corrected for next year. We currently each have married with 2 exemptions and need to update to the new W4. Also, do we give this form to each of our employers?

[davevaldez]

Great explanation on using this tool! Question, if we are married filing jointly, I have regular taxes take out, but my spouse job has no federal or state taxes taken out(employer doesn't know how to adjust for their employees) do I adjust the amount on my paycheck to cover what she is needed to be withheld?

[HiroyukiMKido-ticu]

I dont know if im filling out the estimator right. Do you add anything that is excluded from taxable wages like medical benefits and contributions to a 401k ?

[Bulletz]

I Have 2 questions

1. When you add the wages are you putting pre tax/gross or your putting net pay?
2. My checks fluctuate, so should I put an average amount of taxes I pay per pay period?

[andreadragojlovic]

One more question please. Why does IRS calculator suggests extra withholding for only 1 (higher paying job) now? Previously IRS calculator would suggest additional withholdings for both jobs accordingly.

[WorldsstClone]

Currently, federal taxes haven't been getting deducted from my checks, and i dont understand why. When i do the estimator, it says i dont need taxes withheld in 2024. This can not be right, and I do not understand what is happening.

[andreadragojlovic]

Hello, my husband is in military. How do I calculate wages per period that need to be taxed considering that he gets housing allowance all together? Accordingly how do I see exact federal tax per pay period on his paycheck? And is only base salary considered as "correct expected annual income"? Thank you.

[woodsntrails]

on this example, where is the number on step 3 coming from?

[sarahsutherland]

I just tried this and it said my return was going to be 50K... ummm idk what I'm doing wrong. haha.

[BlackMarq]

So how do you reduce your tax refund if you're projected to get too much? the existing tool use to have a slider in which you can reduce the amount, this just shows you what you're projected but not how to reduce it for a lower refund.