IRS to release new W-4 form for 2020

WASHINGTON - The IRS is expected to release a new W-4 form this month for use in 2020. 

The agency held a payroll call on May 2 and plans to have a draft available for public comment by May 31, FOX Business reported, citing an IRS source.

The new form's purpose is to make withholding more accurate and to better coordinate with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reforms, the report said. The goal of proper withholding is to pay an amount each month whereby one would neither owe nor be owed before taxes are due in April. 

“The IRS continues to strongly urge taxpayers to review their tax withholding situation as soon as possible to avoid having too little or too much withheld from their paychecks,” the IRS said regarding the current 2019 tax year.

Last September, the IRS released the current 2019 version of the Form W-4.

“At the end of the day you want to make sure you’re withholding enough so you’re not penalized,” Jennifer Bobe, a senior manager at Margolin, Winer & Evens LLP, told FOX Business. “I think that’s the biggest key.”

A draft released last summer for public comment was criticized for being too complicated, according to the report.

The draft that the IRS releases this month would also be subject to a public comment period. Bobe believes the IRS will thereafter simplify the forms, following last year's criticism.

“I think they understand they have to change it up,” she said. “My hope is that it will be more simplified.”

Another draft version, expected to be released later this summer, will likely be close to what taxpayers will ultimately use in 2020, the report said. 

This story was reported from Los Angeles.