Employee Tax Information page
This page determines the employee exemption status and tax tables for federal, state, and local taxes. It also holds the Earned Income Credit (EIC) Status for historical purposes.
Menu path
Select Human Resources, and click Entry & Processing. From the Employee menu, select Employee Information. Search for and select an employee record, select Payroll Information on the Action Bar, and choose Taxes.
Page sections
The Employee Tax Setup Information page includes the following sections:
Federal | Determines whether the employee is exempt from federal taxes. It also determines the status for filing, tax calculation, number of dependents, and additional withholding amount. |
W4 Pre-2020 | Determines the number of dependents if the federal tax calculation is P - Pre-2020 Calculation. |
W4 Lock-in | Determines whether the employee is restricted from making updates to their federal tax information for a set amount of time or indefinitely. |
State | Determines whether the employee is exempt from state taxes and identifies the specific state. It also determines the status for filing, number of dependents, and extra withholding amount. |
Local | Determines whether the employee is exempt from local taxes and identifies the relevant locality. It also determines the status for filing, number of dependents, and extra withholding amount. |
W4 Pre-2020
If the federal tax calculation is P - Pre-2020 Calculation, enter the number of Dependents. This field is not used for other federal tax calculations.
W4 Lock-in
When W4 Lock-In is selected, the federal tax information on the following pages operates differently:
Human Resources
Select Entry & Processing. From the Employee menu, select Employee Information. Search for and select an employee record, select Actions from the Action Bar, and choose Paycheck Worksheet.
On the Taxes tab, you can update the Federal fields in the Tax Data section. You will see a message reminding you that the W4 Lock-in is active. The updated information is used in the Simulated Results. These changes are reverted.
Select Entry & Processing. From the Employee menu, select Employee Information. Search for and select an employee record, select Payroll Information from the Action Bar, and choose Taxes.
You can update information in the Federal section of the Employee Tax Information page with the W4 Lock-in active. A message reminds you that the W4 Lock-in is active. Select Yes or No.
Select Periodic Routines. From the Periodic Processing menu, select Effective Date Changes, and then select Tax Info.
The Federal Tax section of the Effective Tax Information Changes page cannot be updated when W4 Lock-in is active.
Employee Access Center
From the Employee Tasks or Salary and Benefits menu (depending on the version of EAC), select Tax Information. Click Update.
The Federal section of the Tax Information page cannot be updated when W4 Lock-in is active.
From the Employee Tasks or Salary and Benefits menu (depending on the version of EAC), select "What If" Paycheck Calculator.
The Federal Tax information in the What If Paycheck Calculator page can be updated when W4 Lock-in is active.
Update employee tax information
In the Federal, W4 Pre-2020, W4 Lock-in, State, and Local sections, update fields as needed.
Click Accept.
Fields and descriptions
Federal, State, and Local Sections
These sections contain the following fields, except where noted:
Field | Description |
|---|---|
Exempt Status | Identifies the employee tax exemption status in the Federal, State, and Local sections.
|
Current (State or Locality) | State and Local sections only. The drop-down list for the respective field includes either standard state abbreviations or codes from the Local Tax table. This entry combines with the pay frequency and marital status to identify the specific state or local tax table that applies to the employee. For information on changing an employee state residence, refer to Prior Earnings/Tax Information Page. |
Status | Employee tax filing status. The standard selections for the drop-down list include Married, Single, and Married Filing Single, though there may be others depending on the status fields in your tax tables. In combination with the pay frequency, this entry identifies the federal tax table to use in payroll processing. The state and local tax tables are identified by three fields:
|
Tax Calculation (Federal only) | Identifies the employee tax calculation based on the submitted W4.
|
Dependents (Federal) | Enter federal dependents in W-4 Pre-2020 Dependents. Only available if the tax calculation is P - Pre-2020 Calculation. |
Dependents (State and Local) | The number of dependent exemptions claimed by the employee. The system multiplies this value by the applicable tax table dependent amount to determine the employee exemption amount in a given per pay period. Example: If a tax table lists 90.38 as the bi-weekly dependent amount and the employee claims three dependents, the system calculates 271.14 (90.38 x 3) as the exemption allowed in each bi-weekly pay run. |
Extra Withholding | Additional withholding amount requested on the employee W4 form, if any. The system adds this to the tax calculated during a pay run, but only for the primary job class. However, if Always Take Additional Withholdings is selected on the Payroll tab of the Human Resources profile, the additional withholding will be taken every time the employee is paid. |
Non-Resident Alien (Federal only) | Select the checkbox if this status applies. Otherwise, leave blank. |
Annual Other Income | Enter amount, if any, indicated on the employee W4. Not available if tax calculation is P - Pre-2020 Calculation. |
Annual Deductions | Enter amount, if any, indicated on the employee W4. Not available if tax calculation is P - Pre-2020 Calculation. |
Annual Tax Credit | Enter amount, if any, indicated on the employee W4. Not available if tax calculation is P - Pre-2020 Calculation. |
Pay Periods/Year | Enter the number of pay periods per year to spread the amounts for annual other income, annual deductions, and annual tax credit values when calculating federal withholding. Not available if tax calculation is P - Pre-2020 Calculation. |
W4 Lock-in Section
Field | Description |
|---|---|
W4 Lock-in Active | Checkbox to place an update restriction on the employee. Select the checkbox to apply the restriction. Otherwise, leave it blank. |
W4 Letter Date | The date that the W4 Lock-in will begin. Only available if the W4 Lock-in Active field is selected. |
W4 Lock-in Lifted | The date that the W4 Lock-in will be lifted. Only available if the W4 Lock-in Active field is selected. |
Attachments
Dependent on the version of Employee Access Center (EAC)
An administrator can add or display tax forms provided by the employee on the Employee Tax Setup Information page. Select the View Attachments (paper clip) icon. Supported file formats are .bmp, .doc, .docx, .gif, .jpg, .jpeg, .pdf, .png, .ppt, .pptx, .rtf, .txt, .xml, .xls, .xlsx, or .tiff. The maximum size limit is 2 MB.
To add an attachment:
Click Add new.
Select an Attachment Group.
Browse to and select the file.
Enter a Title for the file.
Click OK or Accept.
Depending on the versions of PowerSchool ERP and EAC that you are using, employees may be able to upload supporting tax form files when they submit tax changes through EAC. Uploaded tax forms will flow through Effective Date Changes for Tax Info along with tax detail edits. Tax details and uploaded files are posted together. The same file formats and maximum size limit apply to documents uploaded through EAC.
Select the Salary and Benefits menu and click Tax Information.
There can be one attachment for each tax level (federal, state, local). If an attachment exists, a button displays the filename. Click the button with the filename to download the file.
To delete an existing file or add a new one, click Update Tax Information.
If a file exists for a tax level, a button displays with the filename and an X. Click the filename to download the file or click the X to delete the file.
A message appears to confirm the delete. Click Delete to continue with the deletion, or Cancel to leave the file attached.
If no attachment exists, click the Add Attachment button, then select the file.
A button appears, displaying a filename in the format of tax_level_today's_date. For example, if the file is uploaded in the Federal Tax section, the filename on the button will be Federal_MMDDYYYY.
Click Save.