February 15, 2022 Form Updates

US Tax Withholdings

The following tax parameters have been updated and are available as part of the Symmetry SPF 2022-R2a release.

Federal

Form W-4 language updated

Form Title: Employee's Withholding Certificate

SPF Form ID: W4101

We’ve updated the question response options in step 2 (Multiple Jobs or Spouse Works) of Form W-4 to better align with the updated form.

The new response options for the following question are below: “Complete this step if you (1) hold more than one job at a time, or (2) are married filing jointly and your spouse also works. The correct amount of withholding depends on income earned from all of these jobs. Select one.”

a) Use the estimator at www.irs.gov/W4App for most accurate withholding for this step (and Steps 3-4)
b) Use the Multiple Jobs Worksheet on page 3 and enter the result in Step 4(c) below for roughly accurate withholding (Will not check two jobs checkbox)
c) If there are only two jobs total, you may check this. Do the same on Form W-4 for the other job. This option is accurate for jobs with similar pay; otherwise, more tax than necessary may be withheld
None of the above

Previously, the response options read as follows:

I want to use the worksheet to calculate roughly accurate withholding
There are only two jobs total. This option is accurate for jobs with similar pay; otherwise, more tax than necessary may be withheld.
None of the above

Colorado

Colorado Guided Mode module updated

The Guided Mode flow for Colorado has been updated to clarity that if a user chooses not to fill out the optional Form DR 0004, the values on the Federal Form W-4 will be used.

The question “Are you exempt from withholding as a military spouse?” will now have the following option: “I am not exempt and wish to use the same federal values for my CO withholding.” Previously, this response read “I do not want to complete the Colorado Employee Withholding Certificate for state withholding.”

This change only affects the text within the Colorado Guided Mode module. There was no change to the behavior of the module.

Missouri

Form MO W-4 no longer required for residents working 100% out-of-state

Form Name: Employee's Withholding Certificate

SPF Form ID: MO101

Form MO W-4 will no longer be presented within Guide Mode when a Missouri resident works 100% out-of-state. Additionally, the form will not be required within Choose Mode in this scenario.

Nebraska

Form W-4N updated

Form Name: Nebraska Withholding Allowance Certificate (formerly Employee's Nebraska Withholding Allowance Certificate)

SPF Form ID: NE101

Effective 1 January 2022, the following changes have been made to Form W-4N:

Title was updated to “Nebraska Withholding Allowance Certificate.”
Filing status updated from "Single" and "Married" to "Single" and "Married Filing Jointly or Qualifying Widow(er)."
Worksheet reference in Line 1 of the form was updated from 4g to 4f.
Employer's name, address, and Nebraska ID number fields have been removed under the Employee's signature.
Personal allowance worksheet updated to add pension options.
Allowance for child or dependent care expenses was removed (formerly line 4f).
The total field has been updated from 4g to 4f.
Instructions now include guidance on using form for pension or annuity withholding beginning January 1, 2022, when the federal Form W-4P is completed on or after January 1, 2022.
The following instructions have been removed: “Your employer may be required to send a copy of this form to DOR.”
Additional minor text changes across the form, worksheet, and instructions.

https://revenue.nebraska.gov/sites/revenue.nebraska.gov/files/doc/tax-forms/f_w4.pdf

North Carolina

Form NC-4 filing status deductions streamlined

Form Name: Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate (Long Form)

SPF Form ID: NC101

When completing the worksheet within Form NC-4, the standard deduction options have been streamlined. Clients will now see three response options:

$12,750 if Single or Married Filing Separately
$25,500 if Married Filing Jointly or Surviving Spouse
$19,125 if Head of Household

Previously, the Single and Married Filing Separately filing status values had two separate radio buttons. Since these filing statuses have the same deduction amount, we’ve combined them.

Please note that this change did not affect and calculations or form functionality.

Form NC-4 NRA PDF correction

Form Name: Nonresident Alien Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate

SPF Form ID: NC103

When completing the worksheet in Form NC-4 NRA, we’ve corrected the calculated value that is printed on the PDF for line 11: “Divide the amount on Line 10 by $128. Round down to the whole number.”

Previously, SPF was incorrectly dividing the amount on Line 10 by $132 instead of $128 and displaying this value on the PDF and User Interface.

Please note that the calculated value for line 11 that’s captured in the part2_line11 tax parameter remains correct as it divided the amount on line 10 by $128.

Miscellaneous

isLastForm added to Email Back

A new element <isLastForm> has been added to Email Back that indicates when the last form has been completed in the series of required forms for an employee. The value will be False for all but the last form in the series of forms. When the employee has completed the whole process, the <isLastForm> will be passed as True. This value can be used to determine if an employee completed all the recommended forms returned based on the employee’s response to the survey questions.

Previously, this element was only available in the postback XML when using Guided Mode and we are excited to expand this functionality to Email Back.

Typo corrected in Guided Flow

We’ve corrected the following typo in the /guided-flows endpoint and Guided Mode user interface when an employee had the <lockInLetter> element applied:

Current text: Do you want to continue in English or Spanish?
Previous text: Do you want to continue you English or Spanish?