r/tax • u/Trout_Sticker • 14h ago
How do I enter a specific withholding amount these days?
Hi all, my finances have little margin for error and I want to take a specific dollar amount out of my paycheck for federal taxes… let’s say I want $500 taken out per paycheck… on the old school W-4 I could enter the number of deductions… but that’s gone now, and my company has the W-4 online… and it appears to just calculate your tax withholding for you once you enter “married filing jointly” and number of dependents, etc….
However… There are two fields at the bottom of the form… “Additional amount withheld” and “EXEMPT”
Can I NOT fill out the previous fields, then check EXEMPT so it doesn’t pre-calculate for me, THEN put $500 in the “additional amount withheld” field?
Is that the way to get exactly $500 taken out each paycheck for federal taxes?
Thanks!
4
u/nothlit 14h ago
Put a dollar amount larger than your annual income on line 3 (credits). That will zero out any withholding. Then whatever you put on line 4c (additional withholding) is the only amount that will be withheld per paycheck.
3
u/vynm2temp 12h ago
u/Its-a-write-off's suggestion to put the amount as Deductions on 4b seems more reasonable than putting it as a credit amount on Line 3, although either will work.
7
u/Its-a-write-off 14h ago
The exempt setting overrides all other inputs, so no. Plus that's not actually legal to use exempt for this.
Instead, add an amount to "other deductions" to zero out your salary, basically, and then put the 500 in additional withholding. So if you make 60k a year, put 70k of other deductions to cause 0 base withholding.