Because the 2020 Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Certificate, will be very different from previous versions, it will have a major impact on payroll professionals. To help keep you informed of the latest information as the IRS works to finalize the form and withholding calculations, APA has added a new Compliance Hot Topic on its website dedicated to providing information on the 2020 Form W-4.
The new Hot Topic also contains APA resources, IRS resources, and education links. The APA resources include a sample letter for employers to explain the 2020 Form W-4 to their employees, tools to understand the new form (comparison tables of the 2019 Form W-4 and the draft 2020 Form W-4, side-by-side views mapping the changes), withholding scenarios, and links to applicable Payroll Currently and Inside Washington articles.
Sample Letter to Explain Changes to Employees
One particular challenge of the new form will be communicating the upcoming changes to employees. APA has responded by creating a letter payroll professionals can share with employees.
The sample letter, which you may revise for your organization, provides an explanation of why the form has changed, recommends that employees perform a “paycheck checkup” using the IRS’s tax withholding estimator, and gives basic information about the new steps employees will take to complete the form.
The letter is available on the 2020 Form W-4 website. PDF and Word versions of the letter may be downloaded from there.
To learn more about federal and state laws, regulations, and information to keep your company's payroll operations in compliance, check out Payroll Source Plus!
Jyme Mariani, Esq., is Managing Editor of Payroll Currently and Payroll Information Resources for the APA.
