2018 Withholding

[Edsel]

Has been touched on by a number of discussions, but I will ask a defining question:

After all is said and done, what does the IRS expect us to do effective January 1, 2018 regarding withholding?

1.   Leave 2017 withholding tables in place until February
2.   Update withholding tables to recognize pre-tax-law levels which would have occurred had the law not passed
3.   Optional - do whatever we want

 

[jklcpa]

IRS updated with this statement 4 days ago:  https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-statement-withholding-for-2018

 

Quote

 

December 26, 2017

The IRS is working to develop withholding guidance to implement the tax reform bill signed into law on December 22.  We anticipate issuing the initial withholding guidance in January, and employers and payroll service providers will be encouraged to implement the changes in February. The IRS emphasizes this information will be designed to work with the existing Forms W-4 that employees have already filed, and no further action by taxpayers is needed at this time. 
 
Use of the new 2018 withholding guidelines will allow taxpayers to begin seeing the changes in their paychecks as early as February.  In the meantime, employers and payroll service providers should continue to use the existing 2017 withholding tables and systems.

Dec. 13, 2017

The IRS is continuing to closely monitor the pending legislation in Congress, and we are taking the initial steps to prepare guidance on withholding for 2018. ‎We anticipate issuing the initial withholding guidance (Notice 1036) in January reflecting the new legislation, which would allow taxpayers to begin seeing the benefits of the change as early as February. The IRS will be working closely with the nation's payroll and tax professional community during this process.

 

 

[Edsel]

Thank you Judy.  I had seen this before but hadn't necessarily thought it came from IRS.

Guess we leave alone until they create new tables appx February.

[jklcpa]

You're welcome. I might be wrong but think this was the handling that we had in other years where legislation was passed very late in the year and the IRS said to keep using the existing tables until the revised ones were made available.