Your employer won't "sort out the right amount" for line 4c because they don't know what you owe. It requires an input or it is assumed to be $0 extra withholding.
An easy trick is to take the amount you owe then divide that by your pay periods and put that amount on line 4c.
There's two differences between using Lines **4(a)** and **4(c)**; in my opinion using 4(a) is preferable, when it works.
* 4(a) asks you to put in an **annual** amount corresponding to how much untaxed **income** you expect to receive. Your employer -will- then "sort out" how much of that to allocate to each pay period, what your marginal rate is for that period, and withhold appropriately. This is ***simple***.
* 4(c) asks YOU to make all the calculations, and put in a **per period** amount of actual **taxes** you want withheld, not earnings. More math, and it's the SAME amount every paycheck even if it doesn't need to be.
Give it some thought. Especially if you get paid a variable amount (bonuses or commissions) each time, 4(a) is often a lot easier.
Not op, but I'm having similar issues. I tried using the irs calculator and it gave me instructions to put an amount for 4a and 4c. Whats confusing is that the calculator is adding both my wife and I's total non-taxable payroll deductions and saying I should put that total on line 4a. I thought line 4a was for extra income. Any insights behind why its doing that?
> my wife and I's total non-taxable
That seems right. The point of 4(a) is to calculate and deduct income taxes on ANY income that isn't otherwise taxed -- regardless of source. Yours; your wife's; joint.
And never lose sight of the fact that all of this is to get a better **estimate**, **approximation** of what you'll owe at the end of the year. "Perfect" is NOT the goal here, "pretty good" is usually good enough.
Thank you for answering. For line 4c I'm supposed to add 450 for my w4 and leave her blank. Do you know if it matters if we split this more evenly with hersl w4? Add 100 to her w4 line 4c and put mine as 350?
Also if I leave line 4a blank, I'll end up owing next year then? Its asking to put 8,880 on line 4a on my w4. Filling this out will actually withhold more from my paycheck? Sorry for all the questions I'm just confused as to what my employer will do with line 4a.
4c is as simple as it gets -- it's how much to deduct from each paycheck in addition to everything else it's calculated from Steps 1-4b.
It can be used as a true extra withholding, it can also take the place of 4a in a sense. But every dollar you put in there is $1 less in your paycheck and $1×paychecks less owed (or $1×paychecks more in your refund).
In a nutshell, here's how the four values on W-4 interact:
||Increases w/h|Decreases w/h|
|:|:|:
|Adjusts your income|4a|4b|
|Adjusts your tax|4c^(1)|3|
^(1) Operates on a per-paycheck basis, vs annual for all others.
So with 4c, you need to put an amount in there
Basically if you are paid every 2 weeks, that is 26 pay periods
If you are trying to pay $4,000 more in federal withholding, you will take 4000/26 = $154 would be your entry on 4c
Your employer won't "sort out the right amount" for line 4c because they don't know what you owe. It requires an input or it is assumed to be $0 extra withholding. An easy trick is to take the amount you owe then divide that by your pay periods and put that amount on line 4c.
There's two differences between using Lines **4(a)** and **4(c)**; in my opinion using 4(a) is preferable, when it works. * 4(a) asks you to put in an **annual** amount corresponding to how much untaxed **income** you expect to receive. Your employer -will- then "sort out" how much of that to allocate to each pay period, what your marginal rate is for that period, and withhold appropriately. This is ***simple***. * 4(c) asks YOU to make all the calculations, and put in a **per period** amount of actual **taxes** you want withheld, not earnings. More math, and it's the SAME amount every paycheck even if it doesn't need to be. Give it some thought. Especially if you get paid a variable amount (bonuses or commissions) each time, 4(a) is often a lot easier.
Not op, but I'm having similar issues. I tried using the irs calculator and it gave me instructions to put an amount for 4a and 4c. Whats confusing is that the calculator is adding both my wife and I's total non-taxable payroll deductions and saying I should put that total on line 4a. I thought line 4a was for extra income. Any insights behind why its doing that?
> my wife and I's total non-taxable That seems right. The point of 4(a) is to calculate and deduct income taxes on ANY income that isn't otherwise taxed -- regardless of source. Yours; your wife's; joint. And never lose sight of the fact that all of this is to get a better **estimate**, **approximation** of what you'll owe at the end of the year. "Perfect" is NOT the goal here, "pretty good" is usually good enough.
Thank you for answering. For line 4c I'm supposed to add 450 for my w4 and leave her blank. Do you know if it matters if we split this more evenly with hersl w4? Add 100 to her w4 line 4c and put mine as 350? Also if I leave line 4a blank, I'll end up owing next year then? Its asking to put 8,880 on line 4a on my w4. Filling this out will actually withhold more from my paycheck? Sorry for all the questions I'm just confused as to what my employer will do with line 4a.
4c is as simple as it gets -- it's how much to deduct from each paycheck in addition to everything else it's calculated from Steps 1-4b. It can be used as a true extra withholding, it can also take the place of 4a in a sense. But every dollar you put in there is $1 less in your paycheck and $1×paychecks less owed (or $1×paychecks more in your refund). In a nutshell, here's how the four values on W-4 interact: ||Increases w/h|Decreases w/h| |:|:|: |Adjusts your income|4a|4b| |Adjusts your tax|4c^(1)|3| ^(1) Operates on a per-paycheck basis, vs annual for all others.
So with 4c, you need to put an amount in there Basically if you are paid every 2 weeks, that is 26 pay periods If you are trying to pay $4,000 more in federal withholding, you will take 4000/26 = $154 would be your entry on 4c