• Accessing the W-4 through OneStart
• Completing the Form W-4
• Sample of Self Service Form W-4
• Restricted Access
• Update of PeopleSoft Employee Tax Data
• Sample of Employee Tax Data in HRMS, updated through Self Service
• Error Messary Summary Chart

IU Payroll has added new Employee Self Service functionality for the W-4 tax form. This will allow the employee to update their federal allowances, additional withholding, marital status and exemption status electronically through OneStart. Paper forms will still be accepted. There is currently no electronic version of the State WH-4 form available, however we hope to be able to offer that in the future.

Accessing the W-4 through OneStart

Employees can access the electronic W-4 through the Employee Self Service channel on the Services tab. It is available during normal Self Service hours, with no lock out during payrolls.

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Completing the Form W-4

The electronic W-4 is intended to be a substitute for the paper form, and as such, it includes/collects the same data. Unlike the paper form, it defaults to the employee’s current elections which can then be modified accordingly. It also pulls in the employee’s current home address and social security number on file. The employee should verify the data on the form is correct before submitting. If there is no home address on file, the address section will display a message advising the employee to complete the Personal Data Change form. It will still save the update.

The electronic W-4 allows the employee to claim exemption from federal tax withholding. The form defaults in the current calendar year in the exemption year box, and delivers an error if any other year is entered. The exception to this rule is in November and December. During these months it will allow the employee to enter the upcoming year.

In lieu of their signature on the paper form, they must check a box with verbiage certifying they are submitting valid data and understand that their payroll tax data will be changed based on the form. There is a link at the bottom of the form to the paper W-4 form which has an allowances worksheet they can print and use to calculate their allowances.

The employee will receive an email notifying there was a change made to their W-4. There are no details in the email, just notification of a change.

Sample of Self Service Form W-4

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Restricted Access

The electronic W-4 is not available to all employees. The following is a list of special employee populations with an explanation of how their access to the electronic W-4 is affected. There are specific error messages for each population which advise the employee how to proceed to update their W-4 elections. See the Error Message Summary at the end of the document.

1. IU2 Company: Employees in the 18/20 retirement plan complete a W-4P, not a W-4, therefore they are not allowed to use the electronic W-4.
   
2. Non-Resident Alien Employees: NRA employees have special W-4 reporting requirements and it is preferred they complete the International Tax Questionnaire. They are not allowed in the system.
3. Non-Resident Alien Employees with a W-9 on file: The W-9 means the employee should be treated as a US person for tax purposes, therefore the W-4 is not restricted. This population will be allowed to use the electronic W-4.
4. Lock-in Letter on File: An employee who has a Lock-In Letter on file will be allowed to use the electronic W-4, but will not be allowed to enter allowances more than the Lock-In letter allows. It also prevents the selection of marital status ‘Married’ and Exempt for these employees.
   
5. No email address on file: Employees who don’t have a valid IU email address will not be allowed to access the electronic W-4. The error message provides instructions for how to set up their email account.
   
6. No social security number on file: Employees who do not have a social security number on file will not be allowed into the electronic W-4.
   
7. Hire process not complete: Entry is not allowed until the tax process which builds the 01/01/Current Year row is complete. The employee will not be allowed into the Electronic W-4 until the “Last Updated By” field changes from IU Def Unp to IU Prcssed. The employee is instruced to try again on the next business day.

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Update of PeopleSoft Employee Tax Data

When an employee submits an electronic W-4, a current effective dated row is inserted into Employee Federal Tax Data. The new row has updates per the submitted form and also brings forward all fields not on the W-4 from the previous effective-dated row. When an electronic W-4 is submitted the State and Local tabs should not be affected. The ‘last updated by’ will show “Emp Sf Svc” so it will be easy to identify if the row was insterted by an employee electronically versus an online user in a campus office. The current date is also inserted into the W-4 Received Date on the IU Fed Tax tab.

An employee can make multiple changes to their W-4 data in a given day. The system will use correct history to update the row inserted earlier in the day.

If an employee claims Exempt for the upcoming year, in November and December, a 01/01/Future Year row is inserted into Employee Tax Data. Entry of WH-4 data during this period will need to consider/update the current, and future rows.

All changes to Employee Tax Data are captured in the federal tax audit. This report shows inserts, deletes, and correct history. If needed, the employee can request this information through PRHELP or the Tax Area.

TAX AREA: The tax audit is now auditing two new fields- the home address and the social security number. These were added so the federal tax audit could be produced as a record of the employee’s electronic W-4 activity if requested by the IRS. These two fields are at the bottom of the audit. To keep the column width consistent, each address line is broken down into 3 rows.

Sample of Employee Tax Data in HRMS, updated through Self Service

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Error Message Summary:

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