How to Make Changes to a W-4

When you were hired, you filled out a form W-4, which your company used to figure out how much to withhold from your paycheck. If you've recently gotten married, had a baby or moved, you need to change that information so you're getting the most from each pay check that you can.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Call your company's human resources department and tell someone that you need to change your tax information. They might transfer you to the payroll department. You can pick up a new form from that department, but it saves you time and effort to download the form W-4 and instructions from the IRS website.
2. Fill out and return the new form W-4.
3. Follow up after a few days to make sure that human resources or payroll has received your new form W-4 and someone has recorded the new information in the payroll system. Repeat this step until you are satisfied that they've actually performed this task.
4. Check your next pay stub to make sure the information has changed. If not, repeat Steps 3 and 4 to make sure someone updated your information.

Tips & Warnings

• Sometimes things get lost. If human resources or payroll continues to drag their feet, go to the office with your new form W-4 and wait until someone has changed the tax information in the payroll system while you're standing there. It's not too pushy: this is important. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.