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Life Events That Change Withholdings |
Events that occur during the year could have an effect on your marital status or the exemptions, adjustments, deductions, or credits you expect to claim on your tax return.
Whenever this happens, do the safe thing and give your employer a new Form W-4 to change your withholding status or number of allowances.
According to the IRS, if the event changes your withholding status or the number of allowances you are claiming, you must give your employer a new Form W-4 within 10 days after either of the following.
- Any event that requires you to change to single status.
- Any event that decreases the number of withholding allowances you can claim.
Here are the events that will decrease the number of withholding allowances you can claim:
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You have been claiming an allowance for your spouse, but you get divorced or your spouse begins claiming his or her own allowance on a separate Form W-4.
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You have been claiming an allowance for a dependent who is a qualifying relative, but you no longer expect to provide more than half the dependent’s support for the year.
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You have been claiming an allowance for your qualifying child, but you now find that he or she will provide more than half of his or her own support during the year.
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You have been claiming allowances for your expected deductions, but you now find they will be less than expected.
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You filed for bankruptcy under chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and you may not be entitled to the same number of allowances or the bankruptcy estate may be taxed at a higher rate.
In most cases, you are free to submit a new W-4 whenever you want to change the number of your withholding allowances for any other reason.
If you change the number of your withholding allowances, you can request that your employer withhold using the cumulative wage method.
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