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Tax withholding update

USPS employees urged to use new tools

W-4 form on desk
The IRS has made major changes to Form W-4 worksheets, as well as the agency’s online withholding calculator.

USPS wants you to know about recent updates to Form W-4 and the Internal Revenue Service’s online withholding calculator.

Last week, the IRS released a new version of Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate, which is used to determine an employee’s federal income tax withholding.

The IRS didn’t make significant changes to the form itself. However, there have been major changes to the worksheets that accompany the form, as well as the online withholding calculator.

The Postal Service doesn’t provide tax advice to employees, but the organization is urging you to use both tools to make sure you have the right amount of tax taken out of your paychecks. The updated Form W-4 and worksheets and the withholding calculator are all available on the IRS.gov site.

If you have questions, you should consult the IRS, a qualified tax preparer or a tax attorney.

If necessary, you can use PostalEASE to make changes to your Form W-4, but you must go to the IRS site to see the worksheets and use the withholding calculator.

The IRS released the updated tools following recent tax law changes. The changes increase the standard deduction, remove personal exemptions, increase the child tax credit, limit or discontinue certain deductions, and alter tax rates and brackets.

The withholding changes don’t affect 2017 tax returns due this April. However, having a completed 2017 tax return can help you work with the withholding calculator to determine your proper withholding for 2018 and avoid issues when you file next year.

The IRS.gov site has more information.

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