Federal Withholding

The amount of income tax your employer withholds from your regular pay depends on two things: 1) The amount you earn, and 2) the information you gave to your employer on the Federal Withholding form (also called Form W-4). This form includes three types of information that your employer will use to figure your withholding: Filing Status, Total Allowances, and Additional Amount.

When do I use the Federal Withholding screen?

Complete the Federal Withholding screen (Form W-4) so that your employer can withhold the correct federal income tax from your pay. Since events during the year may change your filing status or the exemptions you expect to claim on your return, you may need to provide your employer with new information, refiguring the Federal Withholding form as necessary.   

Federal Withholding Information

If the system does not find any current records, the table will not display. Instead, the system will display an error message indicating that no current Federal Withholding information is on record.

Home Address

This non-editable row displays your home address (or mailing address if home and mailing addresses are the same).

If there is no address is on file, the system will display the following message in the address field: "Your address is missing or incomplete.  Please update your address."

Filing Status

Use the drop-down box to select the filing status. This assists in determining the amount of tax withheld from your paycheck. The valid values are "Single" and "Married."

If the system has you recorded as "Exempt" from paying taxes, it will display an error message in the row: "You are currently exempt from federal taxes.  In order to change your status, please see your Payroll Administrator."

Total Allowance

Enter the total number of federal exemptions that you want to claim. The value entered cannot be less than 0 or greater than 10. The more allowances you claim on your Federal Withholding form, the less income tax your employer will withhold. The most tax will be withheld if you claim "0" allowance.

If you enter an amount less than 0, the system displays an error message: "The Total Allowances cannot be a negative number.  Please enter another value."

If you enter an amount greater than 10, the system displays an error message: "Please contact your Payroll Administrator if you wish to claim more than 10 allowances."

Additional Withholding

Enter an additional withholding (dollar) amount to be withheld from your paycheck (in addition to the number of exemptions claimed in the Total Allowance field). If you enter an amount, a message displays asking you to confirm the amount that you just entered.

If you enter an amount less than 0, the system displays an error message: "The Additional Withholding cannot be a negative number.  Please enter another value."

The W-4 form is unavailable for editing if Disable ESS W-4 check box in Costpoint. See your system administrator for more information.

Allowances Worksheet

Select this button to open the Personal Allowances Worksheet to figure your withholding allowances.