Tax Form Updates - March 17, 2026

Form Updates

Federal

Publication 501 Updated for 2026

The latest version of Publication 501 has been updated for 2026. The publication was released by the IRS in February 2026 and is effective January 1, 2026.

• Page 1: Wording was updated to add the Enhanced Standard Deduction for individuals aged 65 or older; wording was also updated to mention Trump Accounts, along with Form 4547
• Page 2: Minimum gross income amounts were changed for all filing statuses and ages in Table 1; the date to be considered 65 or older changed from January 2, 1960, to January 2, 1961
• Page 4: Minimum gross income amounts were changed for Table 2
• Page 7: In the Spouse Died Before Signing section of the Form 1040 instructions, an additional step was added to check the Deceased box
• Page 25: Standard deduction amounts were changed for all filing statuses in Table 6
• Page 26: The minimum standard deduction amount changed from $1,400 to $1,450; the Enhanced Standard Deduction section was added

Reference: Internal Revenue Service

California

California DE-4 allowance cap

We updated the warning for the California DE-4 (CA101) to allow up to 200 allowances, increased from the previous cap of 100.

California does not impose a formal limit on the number of allowances an employee may claim; allowances are calculated using the DE-4 worksheets. This update reduces unnecessary warnings for higher-allowance scenarios while maintaining the warning’s intended purpose.

As a reminder, the warning provides a visual alert only and does not validate or block form submissions.

Iowa

Form IA W-4 tax parameter value update

Form Title: Employee Withholding Allowance Certificate

Form ID: IA101, IA101SP

Form version: 2025.12.0

For the 2026 version of Form IA W-4 (IA101, IA101SP), the filing status "Married filing jointly and Qualifying Surviving Spouse" has been split into two separate options:

1. Married filing jointly
2. Qualifying Surviving Spouse

Previously, both filing statuses returned a tax parameter value of M for IA.filingStatus. Now, we will return the value of QS when the employee selects a filing status of "Qualifying Surviving Spouse".

"Married filing jointly" will continue returning a tax parameter value of M for IA.filingStatus.

Please note that this change does not impact withholding calculations. It ensures that IA.filingStatus values align with the updated filing status options on the IA101 and IA101SP forms.

Maryland

Form MW507 updated

Form Title: Employee's Maryland Withholding Exemption Certificate

Form ID: MD101

Form version: 2026.02.

Form MW507 has been updated, effective January 1, 2026:

• Page 1:
  • Updated form for tax year 2026
  • Format edits to instructions, including mailing address
  • Date at the bottom-left changed from 3/23 to 7/25
• Page 2:
  • Standard deduction on Line C changed to a flat $3,400 (replacing the prior percentage-based allowance with minimum and maximum amounts)
• Page 3 (Worksheet):
  • Form tax year updated to 2026 and Line C option updated for new standard deduction amount

Reference: Maryland Comptroller

Form MW507M updated

Form Title: Exemption from Maryland Withholding Tax for a Qualified Spouse of a Servicemember

Form ID: MD102

Form version: 2026.01.0

Form MW507M has been updated, effective January 1, 2026:

• Page 1:
  • Year updated from 2025 to 2026 in the upper-right
  • Revision date updated from 10/24 to 07/25 in the bottom-left
• Page 2:
  • Website for questions updated from marylandtaxes.gov to marylandcomptroller.gov
  • Email address removed
  • Revision date updated from 10/24 to 07/25 in the bottom-left

Reference: Maryland Comptroller

Massachusetts

Form M-4 updated

Form Title: Massachusetts Employee's Withholding Exemption Certificate

Form ID: MA101

Form version: 2026.01.0

Form M-4 has been updated, effective January 1, 2026:

• Layout changed from landscape/ticket format to full-page format
• Revision date updated from 11/19 to 3/24
• Lines 1–3: Instructional text changed from Write the figure to Enter
• Line 4: Instructional text changed from Add the number of exemptions which you have claimed above and write the total to Total number of withholding exemptions. Add lines 1 through 3
• Line 5 (A–D): Exemption selectors changed from checkboxes to fill-in bubbles/ovals for filing status; employer notice text updated from if Box is checked to if D is filled in
• Signature and date fields moved to the bottom of the page

Reference: Massachusetts Department of Revenue

New York

NY103: Corrected duplicated last name on PDF when there was no middle initial

We corrected an issue on the NY103 (IT-2104-E) where we were duplicating the last name in the middle initial field on the PDF, when the middle initial was missing. The form now correctly omits the middle initial from the PDF when a middle initial is not included.

Miscellaneous

Year values updated

We've updated the year from 2025 to 2026 within the exemption question responses for the following flows: Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Indiana, New York, and Wisconsin.

Spanish translation corrections

We fixed an issue with that caused some Spanish-language text to display incorrectly in the tax wizard. Previously, certain buttons and instructional messages could appear with broken or missing accented characters when users switched to Spanish. These Spanish translations have been updated to display correctly.