Workers who are assigned the W-4 task will receive one or more related forms within that task. All workers will receive the federal W-4 form task. Additionally, if an employee's address is in a state that requires a state W-4 form, then they will also automatically be assigned that state's W-4 form as well as any additional optional forms such as military spouse withholding exemptions.
For accounts using the W-4 Tax Reciprocity feature, the worker may also be assigned additional state W-4 forms if they live and work in different states. Learn more about the W-4 Tax Reciprocity feature in this article.
Worker Portal Experience
First, the employee completes a W-4 profile screen with their name and address. The information entered here will be used to auto-fill the official W-4 form(s).
The W-4 profile page is the same profile page used for I-9 form tasks. If an employee has already completed this information when completing a previous I-9 task, then they will not need to complete it again for the W-4 task (and vice versa).
Next, employees are shown a list of assigned W-4 forms. WorkBright, Fountain's W-4 and I-9 integration partner, will automatically determine which are the appropriate forms this employee should complete based on their state. Optional forms will be clearly marked as optional as seen below.
Clicking on a form box will open a mobile-friendly version of the federal or state form including pre-filled information from the previously completed W-4 profile as seen below.
The employee will move through the pages and complete the following sections:
Filing Status (required)
Exempt Status (optional)
Multiple Jobs or Spouse Works (optional)
Claiming dependents (optional)
Other adjustments (other income, deductions, and extra withholding) (optional). This includes a helpful deductions worksheet for employees to utilize.
Lastly, the employee will electronically sign the document to confirm that all information is correct and submit it.
State W-4 forms are completed in a similar fashion. However, the content of the forms will differ by state.
Completed forms will have a green checkmark in the Assigned Forms list. Clicking on a completed form box will show the status of the form and an option to view or download the completed form.
Once an employee fills out all required W-4 forms, they will click the "I've Completed All Applicable Forms" button to mark the W-4 task as complete:
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