The W-4 form, also known as an Employee's Withholding Certificate, is filled out by employees when starting a new job to ensure that the correct amount of income tax is withheld from their paychecks. This form includes information about the employee's filing status, number of dependents, and any additional income.
Every worker in the United States should fill out a federal W-4 form for federal income taxes [1].
State Specific W-4 Forms
The following states have state-specific W-4 forms in addition to the federal W-4 form. If you have employees who reside in one of these states, then they will also need to fill out that state-specific form:
The states that require a state-specific W-4 forms are:
Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Connecticut
District of Columbia
Georgia
Hawaii
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Mississippi
Missouri
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Vermont
Virginia
West Virginia
Wisconsin
All other states have no income tax. Therefore, they do not have a state-specific W-4 form.
Optional State W-4 Forms
The Fountain I-9 Center also supports several optional state W-4 forms such as forms for military spouse withholding exemptions or certificates of nonresidence.
These optional forms will be automatically assigned to workers who reside in the appropriate state but will be labeled as optional. These optional forms are not required to be completed by workers in their Worker Portal. Review this article for more details on the Worker Portal Experience.
The states and their additional optional W-4 forms are:
Alabama
A4 form in Spanish
Military Spouse Tax Exemption
Arizona
Resident employed outside of Arizona
Reduced Withholding
Withholding Exemption Certificate
Arkansas
Employee Withholding Exemption Certificate
Military Employee Withholding Exemption
Military Spouse Withholding Exemption
California
Employee Withholding Allowance Certificate in Spanish
Colorado
Military Spouse Affidavit of Exemption
Employee Withholding Certificate
Connecticut
Employee Withholding Certificate
D.C.
Certificate of Nonresidence
Hawaii
Nonresidence in State of Hawaii
Idaho
Military Spouse Withholding Exemption
Illinois
Statement of Nonresidence
Indiana: Military Spouse Tax Exemption
Iowa:
Statement of Nonresidence in Iowa
Employee Withholding Allowance Certificate
Kansas
Allocation of Withholding Tax
Louisiana
Exemption from Withholding Income Tax
Maryland
Military Spouse Tax Exemption
Massachusett
Military Spouse Withholding
Minnesota
Affidavit of Residency for MI & ND Residents
Missouri:
Certificate of Nonresidence or Withholding Tax
Withholding Affidavit for MO Residents
Nebraska
Nonresident Tax Withholding
New Jersey
Certificate of Nonresidence in NJ
New Mexico
Military Spouse Withholding Exemption
New York
Withholding Exemption
Military Spouse Withholding Exemption
START-UP NY Program Withholding Exemption
Paid Family Leave Waiver
North Carolina
Withholding Allowance
North Dakota
Military Spouse Withholding Exemption
Withholding Exemption for MN & MT Residents
Oklahoma
Military Spouse Withholding Exemption
Oregon
W-4 form in Spanish
Metro & MultCo OPT Form in English and in Spanish
Metro OPT Form in English and in Spanish
Pennsylvania
Non-withholding Application
Puerto Rico
Withholding Exemption
Virginia
Out-of-state Tax Credit
West Virginia
Withholding Exemption
Wisconsin
Nonresident Withholding
Military Spouse Withholding Exemption
Employee Withholding Agreement
Important Note:
While there is no official deadline for employees to complete W-4 forms, it is recommended that W-4 forms are completed before an employee’s first paycheck. Failure to do so could result in over or underpaying when filing taxes.
W-4 Tax Reciprocity
Many states also require a reciprocal agreement for out-of-state employees. A reciprocal agreement is an agreement between two states that allows employees who work in one state but live in another to request an exemption from tax withholding in their employment state.
The list of states with tax reciprocity agreements can be reviewed in the table below:
State Employee Works In | States in Agreement | Certificate/Form to Use |
Arizona | California, Indiana, Oregon, Virginia | Withholding Exemption Certificate |
District of Columbia | All nonresidents who work in DC can claim exemption from withholding for the DC income tax. | Certificate of Nonresidence in the District of Columbia |
Illinois | Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Wisconsin | Employee's Statement of Nonresidence in Illinois |
Indiana | Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin | Certificate of Residence |
Iowa | Illinois | Employee's Statement of Nonresidence in Iowa |
Kentucky | Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Virginia | Certificate of Residence |
Maryland | District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia | Employee's Maryland Withholding Exemption Certificate |
Michigan | Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Ohio, Minnesota | Employee's Michigan Withholding Exemption Certificate |
Minnesota | Michigan, North Dakota | Reciprocity Exemption/Affidavit of Residency |
Montana | North Dakota | Employee Certificate of North Dakota Residence |
New Jersey | Pennsylvania | Employee's Certificate of Nonresidence in New Jersey |
North Dakota | Minnesota, Montana | Reciprocity exemption from withholding for qualifying Minnesota and Montana residents working in North Dakota |
Ohio | Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia | Employee’s Withholding Exemption Certificate |
Pennsylvania | Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia | Employee's Nonwithholding Application Certificate |
Virginia | Kentucky, Maryland, District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia | Personal Exemption Worksheet |
West Virginia | Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia | Employee's Withholding Exemption Certificate |
Wisconsin | Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan | Nonresident Employee's Withholding Reciprocity Declaration |
The Fountain I-9 Center supports W-4 Tax Reciprocity. Learn more about turning on this feature later in this article.
W-4 Configuration Steps
To configure your W-4 forms, you'll first create an onboarding task and then assign it to your workers. Follow the steps below to create your W-4 task:
Click Onboard in the left sidebar.
Click Add Flow in the top right.
Type a Flow Name and Flow Description as well as select the Task flow type. Click Next.
Click + Add a task and select W-4
Type a Title, which will be visible to workers in their Worker Portal, and adjust the Estimated task completion time if desired (the default time is five minutes).
If desired, you can add additional tasks to this flow by clicking + Add a task. When all tasks have been added, click Next.
Assign the segment of workers that will receive this task or assign individual workers. Click Next.
Customize any notifications, set a deadline to complete, set reminder messages, and/or a redirect URL.
Click Publish and send notifications to finish.
W-4 Tax Reciprocity Setting
To turn on W-4 Tax Reciprocity support, Administrators will navigate to the I-9 Settings page by clicking I-9 Center in the left side panel and then clicking Settings. Turn on the toggle under the W-4 State Tax Reciprocity section.
This will automatically assign W-4 forms based on state reciprocity agreements for workers who live and work in two different states. When workers access their W-4 task in their Worker Portal, they will have the option to either opt-in or opt-out of reciprocity. This impacts which W-4 forms are assigned to them as mandatory vs optional. You can also access a list of state reciprocity agreements in this section.
This setting is not visible by default. Reach out to your Fountain Customer Success contact or [email protected] if you are interested in using this feature.
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