IDR Releases Tax Guidance: Employee Income Withholding Instructions

Monday - 05/13/2024

The Iowa Department of Revenue is issuing updated instructions for employee withholding for wages paid in calendar year 2024. Previous guidance instructed employers with employees who do not file an updated W-4 using the 2024 IA W-4 to use $40 as the total allowance amount and $0 as the additional withholding amount when calculating these employees’ Iowa withholding amounts.

We have updated our guidance to provide employers with two options to calculate the amount of Iowa employee withholding in situations where the employer has not received a 2024 IA W-4 from an employee:

  1. Employers who expect to receive updated W-4 forms from employees using the 2024 IA W-4 (44-019), but who have not yet received the updated W-4, may temporarily use $40 as the total allowance amount and $0 as the additional withholding amount when calculating these employees’ withholding amounts.
  2. For employees who have furnished IA W-4 (44-019) in any year before 2024, employers may continue to compute withholding based on the information from the employee's most recently furnished W-4 but, if they do, must make the following modification:
    • Multiply the number of allowances claimed on line 6 of the pre-2024 W-4 by $40 to determine the amount of total allowances. For example, if an employee claims 6 total allowances on a 2023 IA W-4, when calculating the 2024 Iowa withholding the employer should use $240 (6*$40) of total allowances.

The following taxpayers are encouraged to review our Withholding Tax Information guidance:

  • Taxpayers who perform work for multiple employers
  • Nonresident aliens
  • Taxpayers claiming head of household status
  • Two-Earner Households

Employers with questions can contact the Department at 515-281-3114 or 800-367-3388.


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Source URL: https://tax.iowa.gov/idr-releases-tax-guidance-employee-income-withholding-instructions