How to Fill Out a W-4? – Tax Pros Online

How to Fill Out a W-4: 5 Steps to Withholding

The W-4 rolled is supposed to be simple. The current form no longer focuses on personal and dependent exemptions as they have been suspended through 2025 tax years.

Form W-4 takes you through five quick steps that gather the information needed to estimate more accurate withholding.

In this article, the experts at Tax Pros Online will take you through the process of how to fill out a W-4. If you have any further questions, please let our team know!

Step 1

Here you enter your personal information.

This is also where you choose your filing status; such as Single, Head of Household, Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately.

Step 2

If you have a second job, or if you’re married and your spouse works, you can use the worksheets or the IRS calculator to determine the appropriate amount to enter.

You can find the online calculator at https://www.irs.gov/.

Step 3

This is a biggie. Here’s where the form guides you to enter the amount of child tax credit or credit for other dependents, if you have them.

In previous years, you just entered the number of dependents you had. Child tax credits weren’t considered in the withholding calculation.

Step 4

This is another big change that came about in 2020’s Form W-4 overhaul. The form now instructs you to enter income not subject to withholding, such as interest and dividend income.

Not sure how to fill this out? You may want to use last year’s taxes as your guide, or reach out to a Tax Pro who can help you get this right and avoid a surprise tax bill.

You can also use Step 4 to request withholding additional money to help cover taxes from other types of income, such as self-employment or side gigs.

Step 5

This step does not actually affect your tax calculation, but you need to sign your form so that your employer knows you completed it.

Ready to get started with tax filing? Contact the tax pros today!

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Common Mistakes Filling Out a W-4

Remembering to regularly update your W-4 form is only half the battle. You need to make sure you do it correctly. While the IRS tried to simplify the form, its instructions still get confusing and often lead to a few common errors.

The good news: if you’re aware of these potential mistakes, you can learn how to try and avoid them.

Filling out the W-4 together

This refers to not only married taxpayers filing jointly, but also taxpayers with multiple jobs.

Add the information for each taxpayer and for each job. This will provide a W-4 printout for each taxpayer when filing jointly and allow the taxpayer(s) to complete a W-4 for each job.

Not including all other income

Remember to add up your retirement income distributions as well as your interest and dividends, cryptocurrency, rental income, and other investments.

Many taxpayers forget the side gig and other small-business income when completing their W-4, which often results in taxes owed.

Not taking advantage of tax credits and deductions

Including your tax credits and deductions—other than the standard deduction—in your estimates will help to lower your withholding, provide a bigger paycheck and help you control your refund.

Remember this:

Bigger Paychecks = Lower Withholding = Lower Refund
Smaller Paychecks = Larger Withholding = Higher Refund

Filling out the new W-4 can get tricky, especially if you are married, filing jointly and both work, or you have dependents or a side gig. You might find yourself with a bigger tax bill than expected, or less money than you deserve every paycheck.

Contact Tax Pros Online

Need a tax professional to handle your taxes on your behalf? No problem! At Tax Pros Online, we offer the following services: full-year Wisconsin resident, single, married filing jointly, head of household, W-2 income, interest income, dividend income, unemployment income, dividend income, retirement income, stock sales, IRA distributions, tax credits, and more.

For a complete of all tax services we provide, we invite you to refer to our tax information page here.

Ready to get started with tax filing? Contact our team today!

Contact Our Tax Pros!