The IRS has updated the income-tax withholding tables for 2018 to reflect changes made by the new tax law such as the increase of the standard deduction, repeal of personal exemptions and changes in tax rates and brackets.
Employers across the country must adopt the changes by Feb. 15. That means employees could start seeing the changes reflected in their paychecks next month, the IRS said.
The new withholding tables are designed to work with the Forms W-4 that workers have already filed with their employers to claim withholding allowances. This will minimize burden on taxpayers and employers. Employees do not have to do anything at this time.
The IRS is also working on revising the Form W-4 and the online calculator to reflect additional changes in the new law, such as changes in available itemized deductions, increases in the child tax credit, the new dependent credit and repeal of dependent exemptions. It should be available by the end of February, so taxpayers can insure their paychecks are accurate.
