Medlin Software, Dennis

I can see item 1. Since the owner controls the W2 submission, and may need those figures as their limit, this actually makes, dare I say it, sense.

I received a lock in letter personally, several years back. At that time, my liability washed to zero, even with a reasonable income (one earner family, loads of mortgage, tax, and other deductions, fair amount of properly accounted for non taxable "income"). The lock was sent the first year of the lock letters, and was likely automatic for anyone who was above a certain earning level, with no withholding balance for Q1 (IIRC, and I probably do not). It took only a short time to clear up, once I got someone on the phone to look at my prior returns and see I had no liability and no back debt.

As long as the voters can be (insert your desired term here) until they cast their midterm votes... could be what the authors were focused on.

An employee can ask anything, and they will. Wise employers follow the law. Employers have enough burden, they should do only what is required, nothing more, nothing less. Employers use the most current valid W4 (other than exempt, they do not expire). If valid, they MUST follow it. Any strike through or alteration of the form makes it invalid. If no valid W4, then single zero allowances is required. There is no option on a W4 for a flat percentage. IRS Pub 15 offers no employer method for flat percentage (save for bonus type payments, which if used, will make the employee unhappy!). As both Abby and I have posted, there is a way an employee can end up with a steady dollar amount per check, but not a flat percentage. Employers may limit W4 "changes" to once in 30 days, as there are some employees who will play with their W4 fr budgeting purposes. Employers no longer have to "report" W4 to IRS if more than a certain number f allowances are claimed. Employers can report suspicious W4 forms, but I doubt many do. The IRS can issue a Lock In order to an employer, forcing the use of a certain status and allowance. The employee has a certain time to appeal such orders. If an employer does not follow the W4 as well as use an approved withholding calculation method, the employer (and likely the person preparing the payroll) can be included int he collection "chain" if the employee fails to pay their liabilities.

For those friends who know me, and ask, I have suggested they wait until July to revisit their W4 information. By then, they can extrapolate their income for the year, and what they have has withheld so far, and make any desired adjustments. I hope not, but prepare for, the calculations to be on the light side, not the conservative side, since those with a R after their name, and likely many with a D after their name, will want to "bank" on their home voters believing they gave them a raise :).

+$1 net pay is welcome. But, the liability issue will be interesting to see develop.

The 444 shows me you are using the MARRIED chart, not SINGLE. Single 0, 2018, 2307.69 Biweekly is 320, difference of 71.

Single, got it, but how many allowances on the W4?

"Net Pay increase" not "tax savings". Withholding may not reflect actual liability

There is no option for the employer to calculate withhold a flat rate, or even select a flat rate =on a W4... Now, if the employer agrees, the employee can claim a high number of allowances (which in itself, can be troublesome because of the jurat on the W4) and withhold a certain "additional" dollar amount. But either way, there is no allwalbe calculation of a flat percent an employer can use (refer to Pub 15), nor does the W4 allow an employee to request a flat %.

The reality is there are many other tax jurisdictions which use the federal "exemption" amount, and W4 information. I have no idea why, but the IRS wisely decided to come up with calculations which did not require a new W4, and did not "break" the other jurisduiction's calculations. Employers have no flat % options available, other than exceptions for bonus type payments. Employees do not like use of the allowable flat % option, since it is at higher rate than a normal calculation. There is absolutely no logic in withholding, other than to make sure it stays complicated, and for a politician to try to be able to say they increased net pay.

My update was posted a couple of minutes ago... Not my first rodeo Other than testing the actual accuracy of my calculation against n1036, I did a test of a married 0, 1k week. 24 less FWH. I was actually guessing today. They post the file, if you know where to look, the day "before" the list of their current files gets updated. Something like this, they seem to prefer Friday for wide knowledge, and with the Monday holiday, even better for them Anyone that wants to play, can download and install our free trial and see the results.

Notice 1036 was (likely) posted today, Reviewing it now... https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/n1036.pdf

Poop happens often. My point was to encourage practical security steps, tor realize nothing is secure once our of your head, and to prepare for and actually regularly practice recovery. For email, I assume the world may read it, and write/send with that in mind. Practical data security is easy. Setting up for recovery is easy. Actually testing recovery is easy, but rarely done. The odds are every person with some sort of paper or electronic trail has been compromised already, with no lasting harm (some small percentage have a short term hassle, if not adequately prepared), if even aware of the situation at all. A few have long term hassle, such as having to get a new SSN (something we have experienced in our family). I gave up on a list of passwords many years ago. I do not reuse or recycle them, and I have a memorized way to create unique passwords as needed, including symbols not directly on a keyboard. I have an odd perspective for certain since I hear from folks on a daily basis, who are needing to recover, and were not prepared at all, or worse yet, thought they were prepared and actually were not.

I don't want to guess what sort of calculation the IRS will publish (see my worry below). The "problems" which may be avoided by not requiring a new W4 are no collateral damage to states which allow the use of the federal W4 information and/or do not have their own W4 form, and there is no way in you know what every employer wants every employee to have to submit a new W4. Many employees would not supply a new valid form in a timely manner, requiring the employer to use single (max withholding), which will cause nasty push back from the employee to the employer, when their net pay goes DOWN after listening to the talking heads saying their net pay would go UP. I could see the old "allowances" still having some affect, as there is a possible child credit. I worry the calculations will be structured for political benefit, to have the most see a net pay increase (such as "assuming" allowances are children triggering the child credit). I have already begun getting that type of question (from employee/owners, and from employers incorrectly seeking advice to give their employees). My reply is to contact their tax advisor for assistance with ensuring their withholding meets their personal desires, once the new calculations are available, and after a few weeks to let the tax folks suss out the results.

(After regaining my composure after considering logic and/or thinking in politics.) Some source probably pointed out what a W4 change would entail, not only on employers, but on all the states without a separate W4, or with calculations based on the federal calculations and W4, so the wonks were somehow allowed to design calculations using the current W4. There will still be state WH ramifications, which may last several months after the IRS publishes n1036. In the past, when only the bracketology changed, the wonks had calculations published as soon as the bill was signed (if not at 12:01am the day the bill was scheduled to be signed). This time, it is likely taking longer because of running more test scenarios than usual, and since the politicians have all said we would see the change starting as soon as February. I doubt it took longer than a day to design the new calculations.

The 2018 federal WH calculations will be not require a new W4.

I can see where you might think so, but you are mistaken. I take what any expert would consider realistic steps. The basic step is to use my grey matter at all times, before firing off signals to my fingers. I also keep nothing online which is embarrassing to lose. For the average person (a non keeper of valuable mass data), data recovery is the bigger threat.

Nice to read (now un) common sense once in a while. There is no such thing as privacy or security. Anything can be found or accessed, given the needed tools and time. Normal actions, such as locking a door, and trying not to lose your data will keep the casual out. Criminals will always find a way, so insurance and recovery ability is where I put my "worry" time. With that said, as Lion said, we still have to comply with the laws those we elect burden us with, in their attempts to get reelected protect us from ourselves. I have not looked in some time, but there was one tax jurisdiction which had a law essentially preventing anyone from storing employee data online, as it has to be always under the employer's control. I do use encryption and passwords, but only for overall access, and when doing certain things online. Long passwords can make password hacking reasonably hard, and encryption makes internet sniffing a bit tougher.

Personally, I would not worry about what any other person or service calculated. What matters is what you prepare needs to be accurate. (If you are entering last year's after the fact, then no calculation matters, you are stuck entering whatever was done, correct or not.) FWH for 2018, so far, is the same calculation as 2017. Same for MO, since MO is waiting for FWH to be published before publishing theirs. You do not have to interpret any employee intent on their MO W4 type form, you just have to take the employee's information, and use it. The form and calculations work together. http://dor.mo.gov/forms/Withholding Formula_2017.pdf P.S. Most tax agencies also allow an employer to use their own calculation/formula, as long as it calculates with a certain range of the published methods. FWH, for instance, allows a WIDE latitude. CT, as another example, states there is no formula or calculation possible (has to be done through charts and steps), but every payroll software provider has likely done what I did many years ago, and built a formula which exactly matches the charts/steps...

I bet that is the hardest part of your job, being the first line of sanity (client's desire versus allowable). It is the toughest part of mine! I was asked, more than a dozen times today, how to do something which is not allowed... and of course, I am a donkey for not allowing it.

(now UN)Common sense rarely prevails... Interesting how a broker can require an agent to work mandatory floor time, in person, during designated hours, and not be an employee (at least for those hours), and the broker has operational control and shares profit with their employees agents.

"too stupid to have that feature." Wow, candid answer at its worst. As a programmer, who also does support, rule 1 is the end user will do something they are not supposed to do. Rule 2, is you will spend the bulk of your time in a vain attempt to prevent rule 1. I answer that inquiry, if this is the proper case, with something along the lines of "the tax agency requires the full SSN on that particular form, we are not allowed to truncate or mask". When pressed, I will mention many tax forms contain a vendor code, and if submitted, and the vendor did not comply with the requirements, not only will the TP get fine, so will the vendor, and the vendor can have all their forms refused if it causes a large number of manual handling by the tax agency. In real use, I am certain things get masked by "printing" to a PDF, then editing before printing to paper, or by making a copy with a sticky note over the items to be masked.

Maybe the handlers (do the handlers change, or is the same small group really in control of politics? Maybe I do not really want to know...) of those we elect are wising up too, and trying a new sales pitch... It would be fun if they had to drink what they sell (think VitaMeataVegamin).