W-4P (2020)

What is Form W-4P?

Form W-4P, Withholding Certificate for Pension or Annuity Payments, is an Internal Revenue System (IRS) form used by U.S. citizens, resident aliens, or their estates who are recipients of pensions, annuities, and certain other deferred compensation to provide their tax information. Based on this information, you are able to inform payers of Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRA) or other deferred compensation plans about the accurate amount of the federal income tax to be withheld from your payments.

You may also use Form W-4P for the following purposes:

• If you choose not to have any income tax withheld from payments made from a pension, profit-sharing, stock bonus, and annuity or commercial annuity.
• To have an additional amount of tax withheld.

There are three worksheets on the W-4P Form that you can use to figure out how many withholding allowances you need to claim. These are:

• Personal Allowances Worksheet
• Deductions, Adjustments, and Additional Income Worksheet
• Multiple Pensions/More-Than-One-Income Worksheet

How to fill out Form W-4P?

Name

Enter your full legal name in the following format: First Name, Middle Initial, and Last Name.

Social Security Number

Enter your correct Social Security Number (SSN).

Home Address

Enter your home address including the number and street or rural route.

City or Town, State, and ZIP Code

Enter your city or town, state, and ZIP Code.

Line 1

Mark the box if you do not want any federal income, tax withheld from your pension or annuity.

If you mark this box, do not complete lines 2 and 3.

Line 2

Enter the total number of allowances you’re claiming for withholding from each periodic pension or annuity payment.

Mark the appropriate box to determine your marital status. You may select:

• Single
• Married
• Married, but withhold at a higher single rate

Line 3

Enter the additional amount you want to withhold from each pension or annuity payment in dollars.

This is optional. For periodic payments, you can’t enter an amount here without entering the number, including zero, of allowances on line 2.

Signature

Affix your signature.

Date

Enter the date when you signed this form.

Personal Allowances Worksheet

Line A

Enter “2” for yourself.

Line B

Enter “1” if you will file as married filing jointly.

Line C

Enter “1” if you will file as head of household.

Line D. Child Tax Credit

Enter “4” for each eligible child if your total income is less than $72,351 or $105,051 if married filing jointly.

Enter “2” for each eligible child if your total income is from $72,351 to $181,950 or $105,051 to $351,400 if married filing jointly.

Enter “1” for each eligible child if your total income is from $181,950 to $200,000 or $351,400 to $400,000 if married filing jointly.

Enter “-0-“ if your total income is higher than $200,000 or $400,000 if married filing jointly.

Line E. Credit for other dependents

Enter “1” for each eligible dependent if your total income is less than $72,351 or $105,051 if married filing jointly.

Enter “1” for every eligible dependent if your total income is from $72,351 to $181,950 or $105,051 to $351,400 if married filing jointly.

For example: “-0-“ for one dependent, “1” if you have two or three dependents, and “2” if you have four dependents.

Enter “-0-“ if your total income is higher than $181,950 or $351,400 if married filing jointly.

Line F. Other Credits

Enter the amount of all your other credits computed from the worksheet for converting credits to allowances in Pub. 505, Tax Withholding, and Estimated Tax.

If you computed all your credits using the worksheet from Pub. 505, enter “-0-“ on lines D and E.

Line G

Enter the sum of Lines A through F.

Note:

If you don’t plan to itemize deductions, claim adjustments to income, have a large amount of other income not subject to withholding, or have multiple pensions, you may stop here and enter the number from line G on line 2 of Form W-4P above.

Deductions, Adjustments, and Additional Income Worksheet

Use this worksheet only if you plan to itemize deductions, claim certain adjustments to income, or have a large amount of other income not subject to withholding.

Line 1

Enter the estimated amount of your itemized deductions in dollars.

Line 2

Enter the amount the suits you best. You may select:

• $24,800 if you’re married filing jointly or qualifying widow
• $18,650 if you’re head of household
• $12,400 if you’re single or married filing separately

Line 3

Subtract line 2 from line 1.

Enter the difference of amounts from lines 1 and 2 in dollars.

Enter “-0-“ if the difference between lines 1 and 2 is zero or less.

Line 4

Enter the estimated amount of your adjustments to income, qualified business deduction, and any additional standard education for age or blindness in dollars.

Line 5

Enter the sum of lines 3 and 4 in dollars.

Line 6

Enter the estimated amount of your other income not subject to withholding such as dividends, interest, or capital gains.

Line 7

Subtract line 6 from line 5.

Enter the difference of amounts from lines 6 and 5 in dollars.

Enter “-0-“ if the difference is zero.

Enter the amount in parenthesis if the difference is less than zero.

Line 8

Divide the amount on line 7 by $4,300.

Enter the result.

Enter the amount in parenthesis if the amount is negative.

Drop any fraction.

Line 9

Enter the number from the Personal Allowances Worksheet, line G, on page 4.

Line 10

Enter the sum of lines 8 and 9.

Enter “-0-“ if the sum is zero or less.

Multiple Pensions/More-Than-One-Income Worksheet

Note: Use this worksheet only if the instructions under the line G from the Personal Allowances Worksheet direct you here. This applies if you and your spouse if married filing jointly, have more than one source of income subject to withholding such as more than one pension, or a pension and a job, or you have a pension and your spouse works.

For Line 2 and Line 7, use Tables 1 and 2 on page 6 as your reference.

Line 1

Enter the number from the Personal Allowances Worksheet, line G, on page 4 or from line 10 of Deductions, Adjustments, and Additional Income Worksheet.

Line 2

Enter the corresponding number from Table 1 that applies to the lowest paying pension or job.

Do not enter more than “7” if you’re married filing jointly and the amount from the highest paying pension or job is $75,000 or less, and the combined amounts for you and your spouse are $107,000 or less.

Line 3

If the number you entered on line 1 is more than or equal to the number you entered in line 2, subtract line 2 from line 1.

Enter the result here and on line 2 of page 1.

Enter “-0-” if zero.

If line 3 applies to you, do not complete the rest of the worksheet.

Note:

If line 1 is less than line 2, enter “-0-” on line 2 of page 1. Complete lines 4 through 9 to figure the additional withholding amount necessary to avoid a year-end tax bill.

Line 4

Enter the number from line 2 of this worksheet

Line 5

Enter the number from line 1 of this worksheet

Line 6

Subtract line 5 from line 4.

Enter the result.

Line 7

Enter the corresponding number from Table 2 that that applies to the highest paying pension or job.

Line 8

Multiply line 7 by line 6.

Enter the result.

This is the additional annual withholding needed.

Line 9

Divide line 8 by the remaining number of payments in the tax year.

Enter the result here and on line 3 of page 1.

This is the additional amount to be withheld from each payment.

For future developments and the latest information regarding Form W-4P and its instructions, such as legislation enacted after they were published, go to the official website of the IRS.