View and update Form W-4 (withholding elections)

For employees

Sign in to your Gusto employee account.
Go to the Documents section.
On the "Form W-4" line, click Sign Document.

View your current Form W-4(s) on file—federal and state (if applicable)

Head to the Documents section of your Gusto account to view your W-4(s).

Change your federal or state tax withholdings—this may update your W-4 and prompt you to resign it

Calculate your new Federal tax withholdings

Gather your most recent paystub (and your spouse’s, if you’re filing jointly), your most recent tax return, and info for any other sources of income.
Calculate your new withholdings by using the IRS withholding calculator or filling out the W-4 worksheet by hand.

For more help calculating your withholdings, check out our blog for step-by-step info or read the IRS FAQs. For personal tax advice, consult a CPA or licensed tax advisor.

Enter the new Federal withholding in Gusto

Sign in to Gusto.
Go to the Job & Pay section.
Scroll to "Federal taxes” and click edit.
Enter your federal filing status.
- If you choose "Exempt from withholding," Gusto won't withhold federal income tax from your wages. All taxable wages will still be reported on your W-2.
  - You’ll also be required to sign a new Federal W-4 every year by February 15 confirming that you’re exempt from federal withholding tax.
Fill in the additional fields if applicable.
- For guidance on how to withhold according to your exact situation, use your results from the IRS withholding calculator or refer to the instructions on the W-4 worksheet.
Click Save.
Click Sign Document and sign your new W-4 form.
- You can also review and sign this form later in your Documents section.

Your changes will take effect the next time your employer runs payroll. On or after the check date, view your paystub and review your withholdings under “Employee Taxes Withheld.”

Recertify your tax exemption status each year

Sign in to your Gusto employee profile before February 15 of each new calendar year.
Go to the Job & Pay section.
Scroll to the "Federal taxes" section and click edit.
Confirm your current filing status.

If you continue to select "Do Not Withhold," Gusto won’t withhold federal income tax from your wages. All taxable wages will still be reported on your W-2.

Fill out the remaining fields.

Click Save.

Click Sign Document and sign your new W-4 form.

Change your state tax withholdings

Sign in to Gusto.
Go to the Job & Pay section.
Scroll to the "State taxes" section and click edit.
Enter your state filing status.
- If you choose "Do Not Withhold," Gusto won’t withhold state income tax from your wages. All taxable wages will still be reported on your W-2.
Fill out the remaining fields.
Click Save.

Your changes will take effect the next time your employer runs payroll. On or after the check date, view your paystub and review your withholdings under “Employee Taxes Withheld.”

For employers and admins

Gusto stores the only most recent version of each employee's Federal W-4. If an employee's personal data or withholding info changes, Gusto automatically updates their W-4 and prompts the employee to sign it. The previous version is not stored.

Important reminders

Employers must keep original Form W-4s on file for 4 years so they can be available for inspection by the IRS upon request. Follow the dropdowns below to help you keep your records compliant.
By Feb 15 of each year, employers are required to reconfirm the exemption status of any employee who, on their W-4, stated they were not required to withhold federal income tax.
- If an employee does not provide you with a new W-4 by February 15 of each new calendar year (in Gusto or outside of Gusto), you must withhold federal income taxes from their pay using the selections outlined in the A new W-4 was not provided by an employee confirming their exemption status dropdown below.

View your team's W-4s

Sign in to your admin account.
Click the People section and select Team members.
Click the employee's name.
Click the Documents tab.
Click Form W-4.

Download W-4s for your entire team

A W-4 package with all employee Form W-4s can only be generated once per day. Depending on file size, it could take a while for your .zip file to be created.

Sign in to your admin account.
Click the Company section and select Documents.
Click the Bulk I-9 and W-4 form packages tab.
On the W-4 row, click Generate.
- These packages do not update automatically, so we recommend you "generate" before downloading to ensure current employee information is included in your download.
Wait for the W-4 package to generate.
- If you try to download a new package while the other is still generating, you will download the old file.
Click Download—this will always download the last fully generated file.

The download shouldn’t take long. However, if your company has a large number of employees, check back in about 5 minutes to see if your .zip file is ready for download.

Store your team's W-4s

Print or save all original W-4s once employee onboarding is complete.
- If your employee didn't complete their Gusto setup themselves, print the form and have your employee physically sign the document.
- Save the original forms promptly — if an employee updates their withholdings without your knowledge and you haven't saved the original, the original will be lost.
Store the original W-4s manually or upload them back into Gusto.

A new W-4 was not provided by an employee confirming their exemption status

Sign in to Gusto.
Head to the employee's profile.
Go to the Job & Pay section.
Scroll to "Federal taxes” section and click edit.
In Step 1(c), update their federal filing status to Single or Married Filing Separately.
Leave the remaining entries as $0.00 in Step 2, Step 3, and Step 4 of the Form W-4.
Click Save.

State income tax withholding forms

For state income tax withholding and certain local agencies, employers are required to have their new employees physically sign the state and local version of the Form W-4, and store it for your records.

If an employee requests a change to their state and/or local withholding instructions, have your employee physically re-sign the state/local version of the Form W-4, and store the new document for your records.