As I mentioned in my post “What’s New In Sage 50 2020.1“, the IRS has released a new W-4 form to be used starting in January 2020 (read the FAQ for details if you haven’t already.) The new form is considerably different than the old one. So different, in fact, that Sage had to redesign the Withholding Info tab of the Maintain Employee’s window. Here’s what you need to know about the new screen.
- Existing employees don’t need to fill out a new W-4 unless they want to change their withholding. But starting in January all new employees must use the new format. Because of that Sage had to accommodate both styles. So there’s a new check box in the upper left section of that screen labeled “Employee uses W4 prior to 2020.” This box will automatically be checked for your existing employees.
- For all new employees, clear the “Employee uses W4 prior to 2020” check box to enable the new fields that correspond to the new W-4 form.
- If existing employees want to adjust their withholding in the new year, they must fill out the new form W-4. When they do that, you need to clear the “Employee uses W4 prior to 2020” check box.
- The default setting is to turn off the “Employee uses W4 prior to 2020” setting for new employees. So if you hire someone before the end of 2019 be sure to check the box (I mention it because I’ve already gotten this question.)
Don’t overlook the “Multiple Jobs” check box. It corresponds to section 2 of the new W-4 and affects how the employee’s taxes are calculated. It’s intended to prevent employee’s with multiple jobs from under withholding and ending up with a large tax bill because their wages at each job don’t accurately reflect their total earnings
