To change your state tax withholding in ADP, log into the employee portal at my.adp.com, open the Pay menu, click the arrow next to your state on the Tax Withholding tile, choose Edit Withholding, complete two-factor authentication, enter your new filing status and allowances, then sign and submit. The update generally takes one full pay cycle to appear on your paycheck.
The Steps Inside the Portal
The screen layout differs slightly between ADP Workforce Now, MyADP, and RUN Powered by ADP, but the path is the same.
- Log in at my.adp.com, or at the portal URL your employer gave you.
- Open Pay. Either click the three-line menu icon in the top-left corner and select Pay, or use the Pay shortcut on your dashboard.
- Find the Tax Withholding tile. You’ll see a Federal entry and an entry for your current state. Click the arrow next to the state listing, then click Edit Withholding.
- Complete two-factor authentication. ADP sends a code to your phone or email. This step is required every time you modify tax settings.
- Fill in the new details. ADP walks you through a guided sequence that mirrors your state’s withholding form: filing status, allowances or exemptions, and any additional flat-dollar withholding per paycheck.
- Review the summary, electronically sign the form, and submit. Save or screenshot the confirmation page with the submission date. You’ll want it if the change doesn’t show up.
If your state or locality layers on a local income tax, ADP may prompt you for additional local withholding forms after you finish the state form. Certain counties in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania fall into this bucket. Complete those prompts in the same session so you don’t end up owing at the local level.
What to Have Ready Before You Start
ADP is the input screen. It doesn’t decide your filing status, count your allowances, or pick your extra withholding amount. Have those numbers set before you log in.
- Your state filing status. This may not match your federal status. Some states define head of household or married filing separately differently from the IRS, so check your state tax authority’s guidance rather than the IRS instructions.
- Number of allowances or exemptions. Many state withholding forms still use an allowance-based system even though the federal Form W-4 dropped allowances in 2020. The dollar value per allowance varies by state, and some states use a percentage-based credit instead.1Internal Revenue Service. About Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Certificate
- Any additional flat withholding amount. If you have side income or want to shrink a year-end tax bill, decide on a specific number, like $50 per pay period, before you open the form.
When the Edit Button Isn’t There
Not every employer turns on self-service tax changes. If you reach the Tax Withholding section and see no Edit option, or you get an error, your company has likely locked the screen. Contact payroll and ask how they process state withholding updates. Most will send you a paper or PDF version of your state’s form to complete, then enter the change on the employer side.
Some changes require payroll help even when self-service is on. Adding a brand-new state after a move usually can’t be done through the employee portal alone, because it also requires updating your work location, which is an employer-side setting. Loop payroll in early instead of assuming the portal will handle both pieces.
Confirming the Change on Your Paycheck
Allow one full pay cycle after you submit. If payroll runs biweekly and you submitted the day after a cutoff, the update may not appear until the paycheck after next. That’s normal.
To verify, open your most recent pay statement under Pay or Pay Statements and look for the line with your state abbreviation, such as “CA Withholding” or “NY State Tax.” If you added allowances, the amount withheld should be lower. If you added extra withholding, it should be higher.
If two full pay cycles pass and nothing has changed, send your confirmation date and screenshot to payroll. A stuck change usually points to something on the employer side of ADP, not yours.
Moves, Remote Work, and Two-State Situations
If you live in one state and work in another, both may have a claim on your income. The default rule in most states is that withholding follows where you physically perform the work, and your home state gives a credit for tax paid to the work state. If the work state’s rate is higher, the credit doesn’t fully wash.
Remote work complicates this. If your employer is based in New York and you work from home in North Carolina, the withholding obligation usually follows where you sit. A handful of states apply a “convenience of the employer” rule that taxes you based on where the employer is located instead. If your remote arrangement is informal or your official work location hasn’t been updated in ADP, this is worth sorting out with payroll before you touch the withholding form.
Reciprocity Agreements
About 16 states and the District of Columbia participate in roughly 30 reciprocity agreements. Under one, you owe tax only to your home state and the work state agrees not to tax your wages. To use it, you file an exemption form with your employer so they stop withholding for the work state. A Pennsylvania resident working in New Jersey files Form NJ-165; a New Jersey resident working in Pennsylvania files Form REV-419. The exemption covers wages, not self-employment or investment income.
Your employer will not apply reciprocity automatically. Without the exemption form on file, they’re required to withhold for the work state, and you’ll recover the money later by filing a nonresident return. That can take months.
After a Relocation
When you move, two things need to change in ADP: your work location, which the employer usually updates, and your resident-state withholding form, which you submit. If only one gets done, the pay stub will be wrong. Ask payroll to coordinate both at once.
The same coordination matters if you moved from a taxing state to one of the nine states that don’t tax wage income: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. If your work location isn’t updated, ADP will keep withholding for your old state, and recovering that money takes a nonresident return. If you live and work in one of those nine states, there’s no state withholding to change in the first place, and no state tax line should appear on your stub.
Adjusting Sooner Rather Than Later
If a life change mid-year shifts your tax picture, such as a marriage, a new dependent, or a second job, update the form as soon as you can. The earlier you adjust, the more paychecks are left to absorb the correction, and the smaller each paycheck change has to be.2Taxpayer Advocate Service. Adjust Your Withholding to Ensure There’s No Surprises on Tax Day Waiting until December forces the whole correction into one or two checks, and leaves less room to fix a mistake if you misread the state form.