What to Put for Number of Regular Withholding Allowances

The number of withholding allowances to claim is zero, because withholding allowances no longer exist. The IRS removed them from Form W-4 starting in 2020, and the concept isn’t coming back.¹ Instead of picking a number, you now enter actual dollar amounts on the current W-4 for things like the child tax credit, expected non-wage income, and extra deductions. If someone at work handed you a form asking how many allowances you want, they’re using outdated language; the form itself has no such line.

Why the Allowance System Went Away

Each old allowance reduced your taxable wages by a fixed amount tied to the personal exemption. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 set the personal exemption to $0, which knocked the foundation out from under the math. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed in 2025, made that change permanent.² Personal exemptions and withholding allowances aren’t returning.

The rebuilt W-4 asks for filing status, dollar-based credits, and direct adjustments. You enter the actual numbers instead of guessing which allowance count roughly approximates your situation, and withholding lands closer to what you’ll actually owe.

If You Still Have a Pre-2020 W-4 on File

An old W-4 you filed years ago stays valid. Your employer isn’t required to make you fill out a new one and can keep computing withholding from the version they have.¹ Payroll systems run your old allowance count through a “computational bridge” in IRS Publication 15-T that translates each allowance into a $4,300 entry in the current form’s deductions field, plus a filing-status-based amount added to the income field.³

The bridge is only an approximation. If your job, family, or outside income has shifted since you filled out that old form, a current W-4 will produce more accurate withholding. Once you submit a new one, your employer must use it going forward and can’t switch back to the old version.

What Replaces Allowances on the Current W-4

The form has five steps. Steps 1 and 5 are the only ones required for everyone: personal information plus your filing status at Step 1, and your signature at Step 5.⁴ Filing status is what the payroll system uses to pick the right tax brackets and standard deduction.

For a single job, no dependents, standard deduction, no side income, Steps 1 and 5 are enough. Everything you might have wanted allowances for shows up in Steps 2, 3, and 4. Skipping one that applies is the fastest way to owe money in April.

Step 2: Multiple Jobs or a Working Spouse

Use Step 2 if you hold more than one job or you’re married filing jointly and your spouse also works. Without it, each employer withholds as if its paycheck is your only income, dropping you into too low a bracket. Three methods are available; pick one:⁴

The IRS Tax Withholding Estimator at irs.gov/W4App is the most accurate. It factors in every income source and gives you a dollar figure to enter on line 4(c).⁵
The Multiple Jobs Worksheet included with the W-4 instructions is a paper alternative. Slightly less precise, but nothing goes online.
The Step 2(c) checkbox works when there are exactly two jobs paying roughly similar amounts. Check the box on both W-4s. If pay is lopsided, this method over-withholds from the lower-paying job.¹

The estimator is the best choice for most people, especially mid-year, since it accounts for tax already withheld. The worksheet and checkbox work fine at the start of a year when income is predictable.

Step 3: Dependent Credits

This is where the old habit of “claiming a kid” now lives. You fill in Step 3 only if total income will be $200,000 or less ($400,000 or less filing jointly). Multiply each qualifying child under 17 by $2,200, multiply other dependents by $500, and enter the combined total.⁴ The $2,200 figure reflects the increased child tax credit for 2026, up from $2,000 in prior years.⁶

Two qualifying children means $4,400. Two kids plus one other dependent (say a college student aged 19 to 23) means $4,900. That amount directly reduces the annual tax your employer withholds, spread evenly across your paychecks.

Step 4: Other Income, Deductions, and Extra Withholding

Step 4 has three separate lines. Fill in any combination, or skip it entirely.

Line 4(a): Other Income

Enter the estimated annual total of income that isn’t subject to withholding: interest, dividends, capital gains, retirement distributions.⁴ Your employer adds this to your wages when calculating withholding, so more tax comes out to cover the outside income. Don’t include self-employment income here; the IRS recommends using the Tax Withholding Estimator for that.⁵

Line 4(b): Deductions

This line is for people who expect to itemize above the standard deduction. For 2026, the standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for married filing jointly, and $24,150 for heads of household.⁷ The Deductions Worksheet in the W-4 instructions calculates the excess of your expected itemized deductions over the standard amount. Enter only the excess. A number here lowers your withholding.

Line 4(c): Extra Withholding

A flat dollar amount added to every paycheck’s withholding. Use this when the estimator recommends additional withholding, when you have irregular side income, or when you simply want a bigger refund. The Multiple Jobs Worksheet and the Tax Withholding Estimator both direct their Step 2 output to this line.

New 2026 Reasons to Update

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act created several new deductions running through 2028. Anyone with tipped income, regular overtime, a car loan, or age 65 or older may find last year’s withholding is no longer right. Tipped workers in occupations that customarily received tips as of December 31, 2024 can deduct up to $25,000 of qualified tips, and overtime workers can deduct up to $12,500 in qualified overtime compensation ($25,000 joint). Both deductions phase out above $150,000 in modified AGI ($300,000 joint). Car loan interest is deductible up to $10,000 (phasing out above $100,000 MAGI, or $200,000 joint), and taxpayers 65 or older get an additional deduction of up to $4,000 ($8,000 if both spouses qualify), phasing out above $75,000 ($150,000 joint).² Use the Tax Withholding Estimator to see the impact, then reflect the result on line 4(b).

When You Can Claim Exempt Instead

If you had no federal income tax liability last year and expect none this year, you can claim complete exemption from withholding. Both conditions have to be true.⁴ This mostly applies to students, low-income part-time workers, and retirees whose income falls below the filing threshold.

The exemption expires every February 15. If you don’t submit a new W-4 renewing exempt status by then, your employer must begin withholding as if you were single with nothing else on the form.⁸ If February 15 falls on a weekend or holiday, the deadline shifts to the next business day.

When to Submit a New W-4

Check your withholding at the start of every year, even when nothing obvious has changed. For 2026, the new deductions for tips, overtime, car loan interest, and seniors make a mid-year check especially worthwhile for anyone those provisions touch.⁴

Update the form whenever your financial picture shifts: marriage, divorce, a new child, starting or losing a second job, a big change in non-wage income, or a home purchase that pushes you into itemizing. The Tax Withholding Estimator at irs.gov/W4App is the fastest way to work out what to enter. Have your most recent pay stub ready, since the tool needs to account for withholding already taken.⁵

After you turn in the new form, look at the next two or three pay stubs to confirm the withholding actually changed the way you expected. If the numbers look off, run the estimator again with your latest stub and submit a corrected W-4.

1
Internal Revenue Service. FAQs on the 2020 Form W-4
2
Internal Revenue Service. One, Big, Beautiful Bill Provisions – Individuals and Workers
3
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 15-T (2026), Federal Income Tax Withholding Methods
4
Internal Revenue Service. Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Certificate
5
Internal Revenue Service. Tax Withholding Estimator
6
Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit
7
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026
8
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 753, Form W-4, Employees Withholding Certificate