Beating the Form Jitters – Filling Out Your W-4

Nothing makes me more jittery than staring down at a W-4 Form and wondering what in the world to put down, or worse yet, if I filled it out correctly. (And I’m also wondering if the federal government has some mercy because it’s the new year and I’m still recovering from my post-Thanksgiving and post-Christmas food coma).

My boss, God bless him, gave me the best advice for filling out the W-4 Form that made me sing the Hallelujah chorus from Handel’s Messiah. It made life much simpler. I was done in minutes whereas before, it took me 30 (ridiculous) minutes to fill it out.

You can totally skip filling out the entirety of the W-4 if you only do the following couple of things.

Step 1: Have your prior year income tax return in front of you (what we refer to here as a form 1040. It looks like this).

Now we add one small math calculation into the mix…

Step 2: On page 2 of your 1040, locate line 11 on your 1040 and divide by the income on line 10.

Step 3: Fill out your name, address, and social security number, and sign the W-4 form.

Step 4: Find yourself a good pen and write the following on your W-4: Please withhold my Federal Income Tax at ____%.

And that’s it. That’s all you need to do to fill out your W-4 Form.

I hope you’re able to join me in singing the Hallelujah chorus. And I hope this trick made your life simpler when it comes to starting your year off right by taking some advice to turn a mountain into a mole hill from Shank & Company, CPA.