We all know that the government has an endless supply of forms. No matter what business we need to do with the government, you can rest assured that you'll have a form to fill out, especially if you're running a business. For those who may be new to the business world, filling out forms will become a big part of your life. So, when you hire new employees one of the first things you'll have to do is file government forms W 4.
What Is the W-4?
Once you hire an employee, it is required for you to complete a Form W-4, which is the Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate. The form lets the government know the marital status of the worker, the number of withholding allowances they want to claim and any additional monies they would like to be held from their wages to go towards their federal income taxes.
While the employee may fill out the form when they start work, they are free to change it at any time while they are in your employ. So if they start working as a single person and later marry, they should be able to change their marital status on their W-4. The same would be true if they decided to later grow their family and have children. If an employee asks to change their withholding, you must honor their request.
W-4 Exemptions
On the government forms W 4 employees may qualify for exemptions. This means that they may be allowed to inform you to not deduct any federal income taxes from their pay. Only certain employees can qualify for this privilege so you must verify that they first have no tax liability left over from the previous year and do not anticipate a liability in the year coming. Other restrictions may apply in this case so it would be best for you to refer to the W-4 instruction book that lists all of the qualifications.
Invalid W-4s
As the employer, it is up to you to ensure that every employee who fills out a W-4 or makes changes to one is authorized to do so. If an employee informs you that there are some inaccuracies on his or her W-4, you must remove it. In addition, if the form is defaced in any way, or if there is some writing on the form that does not apply to the information needed, it cannot be used. You will have to issue a new W-4 form and make sure that the employee fills it out properly.
Dealing with government forms can often be a hassle but those who must fill out the government forms W 4 will find it to be one of the easiest to fill out. There are quite a few requirements set out for government forms that you may not be aware of, so it is important that you make sure everything that is needed is included in these forms before you submit them to the government. Those that take extreme care in how these forms are filled out, will find that they don't have to be so complicated.