INQUIRY 20-01, New Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Certificate

Published: January 3, 2020
Effective: Pay Period 26, 2019

Summary

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has a new 2020 Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Certificate, to reduce the form's complexity and to increase transparency and accuracy in the withholding system. The redesigned Form W-4 no longer uses the concept of withholding allowances, which was previously tied to the amount of the personal exemption.

Affected Systems

System

System Impact

Employee Personal Page (EPP), and EPP Mobile

The following new fields are being added to the Federal Tax (W-4) Self Service Request page:

  • Multiple Jobs or Spouse Works
  • Claim Dependents
  • Optional (Other Adjustments)

Information/Research Inquiry System (IRIS)

The following new fields are being added to IRIS Program IR104, Federal Tax screen:

  • Mult Jobs
  • Tot Amt Claim Dep
  • Other Income
  • Deduction Refund
  • New W-4?

Payroll/Personnel Inquiry System (PINQ)

The following new fields are being added to PINQ Program PQ022, Pay-Hist (Cont) screen:

  • W-4-Flag
  • Multi-Jobs-Spouse-Wrk
  • Tot-Amt-Clm-Dependents
  • Other-Income
  • Ded-Reduce-Tax-Whld

Table Management System (TMGT)

The following new fields are being added to Table Management System Table 102, Pay/Pers Download Table:

  • W-4-Flag
  • Tot-Amt-Clm-Dependent

Implementation

To Make W-4 Changes in EPP:

  1. On EPP, select Federal Tax (W-4). The Federal Tax Certificate page is displayed.
  2. Select the Self-Service button. The Enter Federal Tax (W-4) Self-Service Request page is displayed.
  3. Complete the applicable fields. The new fields are:
    • Multiple Jobs or Spouse Works - Indicates employee holds more than one job at a time or married filing jointly and spouse also works.
    • Claim Dependents - Indicates total dollar amount for dependents claimed.
    • Optional (Other Adjustments) - Indicates total dollar amount for additional dependents.
  4. Select the Continue button.
  5. Select the Submit button. The Federal Tax (W-4) Self-Service Request Confirmation page is displayed.

To Display the New IRIS Fields:

  1. On IRIS Current Data, enter screen number 104, (Federal Tax screen).
  2. Press the Enter key. The Federal Tax screen is displayed.
  3. On the Federal Tax screen, the following new fields are:
    • Mult Jobs - Holds more than one job at a time or married filing jointly and spouse also works.
    • Tot Amt Claim Dep - Total dollar amount for dependents claimed.
    • Other Income - Tax withheld for other income. This may include interest, dividends, and retirement income.
    • Deduction Refund - Deductions other than the standard deduction to reduce withholdings.
    • New W-4? - Indicates Y (new W-4) or N (previous W-4).

To Display the New PINQ Fields:

  1. On PINQ PQ Menu, enter the applicable Social Security number, screen number (22), and pay period number.
  2. Press the Enter key. The Pay-Hist screen is displayed.
  3. Press the Enter key twice to advance to screen 3 of 4.
  4. On the Pay-Hist screen 3 of 4, the new fields are:
    • W-4 Flag - Indicates Y (new W-4) or N (previous W-4).
    • Multi-Jobs-Spouse-Wrk - Holds more than one job at a time or married filing jointly and spouse also works.
    • Tot-Amt-Clm-Dependents - Total dollar amount for dependents claimed.
    • Other-Income - Tax withheld for other income. This may include interest, dividends, and retirement income.
    • Ded-Reduce-Tax-Whld - Deductions other than the standard deduction to reduce withholdings.

Resources

View HRPAY Bulletin 20-02, New Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Certificate and REPT Bulletin 20-01, New Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Certificate.

The procedure manuals for these applications, which are available online at the National Finance Center (NFC) Web site, are being updated to include the information in this bulletin.

For more information on the redesigned Form W-4 go to the IRS Web site.

Inquiries

For questions about NFC processing, authorized Servicing Personnel Office representatives should contact the NFC Contact Center at 1-855-NFC-4GOV (1-855-632-4468) or via the customer service portal.