What Do I Put for Withholding Allowance on My W-4?

The federal W-4 no longer has a line for withholding allowances on your W-4. The IRS removed that system in 2020. Instead of choosing a number of allowances, you now enter your filing status, dollar amounts for dependents, and any adjustments for other income or deductions. Some state withholding forms still use the old allowance method, so if you’re filling out a state certificate alongside the federal form, that’s where the allowance question still lives.¹

If you started your current job before 2020 and never turned in a new W-4, your employer is still using the allowance number you gave them back then. That’s legal, but it may no longer match your situation. Anytime your life or income changes meaningfully, submit a fresh W-4.

What Goes in Each Step of the Federal W-4

The current W-4 has five steps. Most people only need to complete Steps 1 and 5. The steps in between apply only if they match your situation.²

Step 1 asks for your name, address, Social Security number, and filing status: single, married filing jointly, or head of household. Filing status sets the baseline withholding, so this is the single most important entry on the form.
Step 2 applies only if you hold more than one job at the same time, or you’re married filing jointly and your spouse also works. Skip it if neither applies.
Step 3 is where dependents get entered as dollar amounts. For 2026, multiply each qualifying child under 17 by $2,200 and each other dependent by $500. This step only applies if your income is $200,000 or less ($400,000 or less for joint filers).
Step 4 is optional and covers three things: other income not from jobs (4a), extra deductions beyond the standard deduction (4b), and any additional flat amount you want withheld each pay period (4c).
Step 5 is your signature and date.

A single person with one job and no dependents fills out Step 1, signs Step 5, and hands it in. That’s the whole form. Steps 2 through 4 exist for people whose tax picture is more layered.

If You Have Two Jobs or a Working Spouse

This is where the old “how many allowances” question gets closest to a modern equivalent. Withholding tables assume the paycheck in front of them is your only income. When you hold two jobs, or you and a spouse both work and file jointly, each employer withholds as though its check is the whole picture. Without an adjustment, you’ll come up short at tax time.³

The form gives you three ways to fix this:

Check the box in Step 2(c) on both W-4s. Use this when there are exactly two jobs in the household and they pay similar amounts. It’s the easiest option but tends to over-withhold when the two paychecks are far apart.
Complete the Multiple Jobs Worksheet in Step 2(b). Do this when one job pays more than double the other. Fill it out only for the highest-paying job’s W-4.
Use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator. This is the most accurate option, especially for three or more income sources.

Whichever route you take, put figures in Steps 3, 4(a), 4(b), and 4(c) on the W-4 for the highest-paying job only. Leave those steps blank on every other W-4, which produces standard withholding for your filing status.⁴

Dependents, Other Income, and Deductions

Step 3 handles the credit for dependents. Add $2,200 for each qualifying child under 17, add $500 for each other dependent, and enter the total. If your income exceeds the thresholds ($200,000 single, $400,000 joint), leave Step 3 blank.²

Step 4(a) is for income that doesn’t have taxes automatically withheld: interest, dividends, retirement distributions, and similar items. Enter the expected annual total, and your employer will spread additional withholding across your paychecks to cover it. Don’t include self-employment income here; that gets handled through quarterly estimated payments.

Step 4(b) applies if you plan to itemize and your total itemized deductions will exceed the standard deduction. The 2026 standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for married filing jointly, and $24,150 for head of household.⁵ Enter the difference between your projected itemized deductions and the standard deduction. A single filer expecting $22,000 in itemized deductions would put $5,900 on line 4(b).

Step 4(c) is a flat additional amount withheld from every paycheck. Use it if you consistently owe at tax time, or as a way to cover non-wage income without disclosing the details to payroll. Run the estimator, take the per-paycheck number it produces, and enter it here. Your employer sees only the extra withholding, not the underlying reason.³

State Forms Where Allowances Still Exist

Several states kept the allowance system on their own withholding certificates. California, New York, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and South Carolina are among them, each with a different per-allowance dollar value. If your state uses this method, you’ll fill out a state-specific form like California’s DE 4 or New York’s IT-2104 alongside your federal W-4.

State allowances work the way the old federal system did. You typically claim one for yourself, one for a spouse if filing jointly, and one for each dependent. Zero allowances means maximum withholding and a likely refund. Each additional allowance reduces the amount withheld. The state form’s worksheet walks you through the count.

Nine states have no individual income tax at all: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. Working in one of these means no state withholding form.

Claiming Exempt Instead of Choosing a Number

If you had no federal tax liability last year and expect none this year, you can write “Exempt” in the space below Step 4(c) to stop federal income tax withholding entirely.⁶ This typically applies to students, part-time workers, and others whose annual income falls below the standard deduction. Social Security and Medicare taxes still come out regardless.

Exempt status expires every year on February 15. If you don’t submit a new W-4 by that date, your employer must begin withholding at the highest rate: single filing status with no adjustments.⁷

Using the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator

For anything beyond one job and no dependents, the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator at irs.gov is the fastest way to get accurate numbers for your W-4. It runs a full tax calculation with your actual figures and produces a recommended, pre-filled W-4 you can hand to your employer.⁸

Have these ready before you start:

Your most recent pay stub, and your spouse’s if filing jointly
Your most recent federal tax return
Records for self-employment, gig work, or Social Security income
An estimate of deductions if you plan to itemize

The estimator doesn’t collect personally identifiable information, and neither does the pre-filled W-4 it generates. That’s useful if you’d rather not share details about side income or a spouse’s earnings with payroll.⁴

When to Submit a New W-4

You can turn in a new W-4 anytime, not just at hire. Revisit it after any event that changes your tax picture: marriage, divorce, a new child, buying a home, a second job, or losing one. The IRS also recommends updating it if you received a large refund or owed a balance last time you filed, since either outcome means your withholding was off.⁷

A useful habit: run the estimator once a year, right after your first full paycheck in January. That catches inflation-adjusted brackets, deduction changes, and income shifts before they compound over the year.

Give the completed form to payroll or HR. Many employers accept it through a self-service portal; smaller ones may still want paper. For a new hire, the employer applies the W-4 to the first wage payment. For a replacement W-4, the employer has until the start of the first payroll period ending on or after the 30th day after receipt to put it into effect.⁷ Check the federal withholding line on your next pay stub. If it looks wrong, ask payroll to confirm they entered the form correctly before submitting another one.

1
Internal Revenue Service. IRS, Treasury Unveil Proposed W-4 Design for 2020
2
Internal Revenue Service. Form W-4 (2026) Employee’s Withholding Certificate
3
Internal Revenue Service. FAQs on the 2020 Form W-4
4
Internal Revenue Service. Tax Withholding Estimator FAQs
5
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026
6
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 753, Form W-4 Employee’s Withholding Certificate
7
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 15 (2026), Employer’s Tax Guide
8
Internal Revenue Service. Tax Withholding Estimator