The IRS recently released an updated copy of the 2019 Form W-4P, Withholding Certificate for Pension or Annuity Payments. This form is used by recipients of pensions, annuities, and certain forms of deferred income to communicate the correct federal income tax withholding to withhold from payments.
There is no update to the form itself from the previous version of this form, but the first page of the most recent copy communicates that a new version will be released in the near future with updates that correlate to a change in the law which was enacted on December 20, 2019. IRS Notice 2020-03 outlines changes that were made to the 2020 Form W-4, and how the current W-4P does not align with the new information requirements of the 2020 Form W-4. Furthermore, Publication 15-T (Federal Income Tax Withholding Methods) was updated to work with both the older versions of Form W-4 and the 2020 version of Form W-4. As a result, the 2020 version of Form W-4P will be updated to work with certain withholding tables and computational procedures in the 2020 version of Publication 15-T that are applicable to the 2019 or earlier versions of Form W-4.
Please note that a draft version of the 2020 Form W-4P is listed on the IRS website, but predates the legislation enacted on December 20, 2019 and is likely no longer an accurate representation of the upcoming release.
To review the notice on the most recent version of the 2019 Form W-4P, click here. To review IRS Notice 2020-3, click here.
