Get your W-4 right in two minutes.

What the W-4 does

Your W-4 tells your employer how much federal income tax to take out of each paycheck. You give it to your employer, not the IRS. Since 2020 it has no allowances: it asks for your filing status, other jobs, dependents and any extra amounts instead.

Each step, in plain words

• Step 1: your name, address, Social Security number and filing status (single or married filing separately, married filing jointly, or head of household).
• Step 2: only if you have more than one job at a time, or you’re married filing jointly and your spouse works. Skipping it when it applies is a common reason people owe at tax time.
• Step 3: dependents. For 2026, $2,200 for each child under 17 and $500 for each other dependent, if your income will be $200,000 or less ($400,000 or less married filing jointly).
• Step 4(a): other income with no tax taken out, like interest or side work, if you want tax withheld for it here.
• Step 4(b): deductions beyond the standard deduction (for 2026: $16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly, $24,150 head of household). The form’s worksheet walks through them.
• Step 4(c): extra tax to take out of each paycheck. It’s the simplest fix if you’re on track to owe.
• Step 5: sign and date it, then give it to your employer.

When to change it

• You start a new job or a second one, or your spouse does.
• You marry, divorce or have a baby.
• You owed at tax time, or got a big refund (that’s money you could have had in each paycheck).

Claiming exempt

You can claim exempt only if you owed no federal income tax last year and expect to owe none this year. It lasts one year: to keep it, give your employer a new W-4 by February 15.