2020 is well underway and employers should now be using the latest version of Form W-4 Employee’s Withholding Certificate. This IRS form needed to be revised in order to more accurately calculate withholding due to the tax law changes made late in 2017.

The new W-4 can be completed using a simple method or a more comprehensive method, as outlined in this article by Robin Lutz, MT, CPA, Senior Tax Manager at Hawkins Ash CPAs. Either way, it is easy to enter into QuickBooks Desktop.

Note that QuickBooks currently has the default option set to 2019 and Prior for the form type. You will need to click the drop-down and select 2020 and Later.

You may receive a pop-up letting you know the following before you proceed:

After proceeding, the next step is to select the Filing Status, as seen in this screenshot:

If the person is Single and holds more than one job, or if they are filing Married filing jointly and their spouse also has a job, then they can check the box.

If they did not check the box, they very well could have gone through the estimator or the multiple jobs worksheet and entered information in the optional Other Income, Deductions or Extra Withholding field(s).

If they Claim Dependents, have Other Income or Deductions, or want to withhold extra, you will enter that information based on what they have filled out.

Sometimes there are cases when you will receive a W-4 that has only the Filing Status filled out—and that is okay. Not everyone may have a second job, household or dependents.

After this information is entered, employees also need to fill out a withholding form for their state to record their filing status and allowances for state withholding.

As always, feel free to contact us with any QuickBooks Desktop questions or let us assist you with helping your employees understand this new W-4 form for use in the months ahead.

There are several reasons why some of you may find yourself needing to file amended employment tax returns. Perhaps your employees received incorrect W-2 forms, but you have not yet filed. Or maybe your company already has filed, and you need to file updated forms with the government.

While this may sound like a daunting task, it is pretty easy in most cases. QuickBooks Desktop will take you step by step through the process. To do this, follow these simple instructions.

Preparing and filing corrected returns in QuickBooks Desktop is not as complicated as you might think! But as always, if you have questions please do not hesitate to contact Hawkins Ash CPAs for assistance.

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