Configure the Tax Withholding Card

The Tax Withholding card represents the employees' federal and state tax withholding form.

This card is very flexible and can support multiple configurations.

When you're doing this	Here's what you can do
Manually creating the card	Create a default card. Create extra cards for an employee with multiple payroll relationships.
Modifying an existing card	Add a tax reporting unit (TRU) association. Add more work locations. Adjust filing status, allowances, and withholding exemptions.
Transferring an employee	When transferring between payroll statutory units (PSUs), create a card for the new PSU. Update the card for an employee transferring between TRUs. Update the card for an employee transferring to a new location.
Capturing other HR changes	Sync the tax card to reflect changes to a person's HR data.

See the following sections for examples of each.

How to manually define the tax card

For most employees, the sync process creates their Tax Withholding card automatically upon hire or assignment of their payroll relationship. However, if you've disabled this process, or if the person requires another card, you create the card manually.

Do this to get started.

1. From My Client Groups, click Payroll.

2. Click Calculation Cards.

3. Search for and select the person.

Create the Default Card

In this example, you're creating a Tax Withholding card for an employee who didn't receive one upon hire. They work and live in Cincinnati, Ohio and have requested $100 in extra federal withholding.

1. From the Calculation Cards task, click Add.

2. Set the effective date to be the person's date of hire.

3. Select Tax Withholding, and click Submit.

4. Click Tax Withholding to open the new card.

5. Click Regional.

6. Click Add and then Add Default State and Local Withholdings.

7. Add regional nodes for Ohio and Cincinnati:

   1. Click Add and then Add Tax Withholdings.

   2. Select state taxes for Ohio, and click Submit.

   3. Click Add and then Add Tax Withholdings.

   4. Add city taxes for Cincinnati, and click Submit.

8. Enter the Ohio state tax details:

   1. Click Edit to open the State Taxes component for editing.

   2. Enter the employee's Ohio tax details.

      For example, as this employee is an Ohio resident, click No for Nonresident.

   3. Click Submit.

9. Enter the Cincinnati city tax details:

   1. Click Edit to open the City Taxes component for editing.

   2. Enter the employee's Cincinnati tax details.

   3. Click Submit.

10. Enter the federal tax details.

    1. Click Federal.

    2. Click Edit to open the Federal component for editing.

    3. Enter the $100 extra withholding requested by the employee.

    4. Click Submit.

11. Define the employee's TRU associations:

    1. Click Associations.

    2. Click Add.

    3. Select the TRU you are associating with the employee.

    4. Select the other required values in US Taxation.

    5. In Assignment details, click Add.

    6. Select the person's assignment.

    7. Click Submit.

12. Click Done.

Create Cards for Multiple Payroll Relationships

The hiring process normally creates tax cards automatically for new hires. It doesn't if:

• You're using the HR-only product extension

• You loaded employee records through HCM Data Loader (HDL)

• You've employees working more than one job concurrently

In this example, you're adding a Tax Withholding card to an employee who has just been given a new payroll relationship and assignment. The employee already has a default card for their primary relationship.

1. In My Client Groups, click Payroll.

2. Click Calculation Cards.

3. Search for the person, and select the appropriate payroll relationship.

   Because this person has two payroll relationships, each appears as a separate row in the results.

4. Click Create, and select Tax Withholding.

5. Continue with the card creation as described in the previous section.

How to modify a tax card

After an employee has a Tax Withholding card, you update it manually when you need to:

• Add or update the TRU associations

  • Unless you've disabled it, the sync process runs automatically whenever you submit the person's HR data changes.

  • To run it manually, use the Sync Calculation Cards process.

  For further info, see Sync Calculation Cards below.

• Adjust the filing status, allowances, and withholding exemptions

To manually change the card:

1. In My Client Groups, click Payroll.

2. Click Calculation Cards.

3. Search for and select the person.

   The Calculation Cards page displays for the employee, listing their calculation cards.

4. Select the Tax Withholding card you want to edit.

   For further instructions, see the following sections.

Add TRU Associations

In this example, you've given your employee an assignment that's operating in a different TRU from their primary.

After you've updated their employment record with the new assignment info, you configure the TRU associations on their tax card.

1. In My Client Groups, click Payroll.

2. Click Calculation Cards.

3. Search for and select the person.

4. Open their Tax Withholding card for editing.

5. Click Associations.

6. Click Add.

7. Select the TRU you want to add.

8. In Assignment details, click Add.

9. Select the employee's assignment, and click Submit.

10. Repeat for any TRUs for other assignments.

Note:

Some payroll actions automatically establish TRU associations.

This includes actions like adding assignments, hiring, and employee transfers.

• If you select a TRU during the process, it creates the association if one doesn't exist.

• If you don't select a TRU, and a single TRU association exists on the card, the process uses that association.

• If you don't select a TRU, and multiple TRU associations exist, the process doesn't establish any association for the assignment.

• If you don't provide any payroll info at all, the process doesn't create the TRU association.

Adjust Filing Status, Allowances, and Withholding Exemptions

A new tax card has these defaults at the federal level.

• Single or married filing separate filing status

• $0 dependent, deductions, other income, and deduction amounts

Each state and local node you add could impose its own default settings, or they could follow the federal settings.

In this example, an employee living in Ohio has informed you of future life events that require the following changes to their tax card.

At this level	Make these changes
Federal	Change their filing status to Married filing jointly. Withhold an extra $100.
State (Ohio)	Claim 1 allowance.

To make these changes to the tax card:

1. Set the effective as-of date to the date these changes are to take effect.

2. Update the Federal node.

   1. In the Action menu for the Federal node, select Edit and then Update.

   2. Select Married filing jointly for the filing status.

   3. Enter 100 for Extra Withholding Amount.

   4. Click Save.

3. Update the OH state node.

   1. In the Action menu for the OH node, select Edit and then Update.

   2. Enter 1 allowance.

   3. Click Save.

4. When finished, click Cancel.

How to manage tax cards during employee transfers

A transfer can occur between:

• PSUs

• TRUs

• Locations

Each transfer can impact the employee's tax card in different ways.

Before changing the card, ensure all other activities related to the transfer are complete. Then you can open the Tax Withholding card for editing:

1. From My Client Groups, click Payroll.

2. Click Calculation Cards.

3. Search for and select the person.

4. Open their Tax Withholding card for editing.

Transfer Between PSUs

You transfer an employee from one PSU to another using the Local and Global Transfer process. In these cases, the process creates a Tax Withholding card for their new TRU and new assignment.

Because of changes to the 2020 W-4, there are some cases when the process can't copy any employee withholding info to the new card.

• If the employee has a W-4 before 2020, the process creates a card with default 2020 federal withholding. It doesn't retain any employee info from the previous form. However, it does retain these employee tax configurations.

  • Medicare exemption

  • Federal unemployment insurance (FUTA) exemption

  • Social Security exemption

  • Federal wage accumulation exemption

  • Federal income tax (FIT) look-back rule employee override

  • IRS lock in date

  • Maximum FIT allowances

  • FIT regular amount

  • FIT regular rate

  • FIT supplemental amount

  • FIT supplemental rate

• If the employee has a 2020 or later W-4, then the process copies all info to the new card except Exempt from Federal Income Tax Withholding.

• The process doesn't copy the state or local tax card configuration. If the person requires withholding other than the defaults, you must manually define them.

• The process automatically sets some default values, such as:

  • Pennsylvania political subdivision (PSD) code

  • Pennsylvania school district

  • SUI and SDI state info

To perform the transfer:

1. From My Client Groups, click Show More.

2. In Employment, click Local and Global Transfer.

3. Search for and select the employee.

4. Select the info you want to transfer, and click Continue.

5. In When and Why, define all required info, including the person's new legal employer.

6. Complete all other steps, and submit the process.

7. If the employee had a pre-2020 W-4, have them complete a new Federal W-4 form through Self Service upon completion of the transfer.

8. Update the new tax card with any special state or local withholdings requested by the employee.

Transfer Between TRUs

Transfers between TRUs involve adding the TRU associations on the card. Before you begin, you must have already created the employee's new assignment.

When you use the global transfer process to move an employee to a different TRU, it:

1. Adds the TRU association to the person's current tax card and adds the assignment

2. Sets some default values, such as:

   • Pennsylvania PSD code

   • Pennsylvania school district

   • SUI and SDI state info

To perform the transfer:

1. From My Client Groups, click Show More.

2. In Employment, click Local and Global Transfer.

3. Search for and select the employee.

4. Select the info you want to transfer, and click Continue.

5. In When and Why, define all required info.

6. In Payroll Details, select the payroll definition and TRU.

7. Provide any other necessary info, and submit the process.

Transfer Between Locations

For location transfers that don't involve a change in TRU, you need to update the tax card if:

1. The new location has special state or local tax requirements.

2. The person has changed their withholding selections on their W-4.

   For further info, see How You Modify a Tax Card above.

How to sync calculation cards with HR changes

Usually, when you make a change to a person's HR data, a sync process automatically makes the appropriate updates to their tax card. For further info, see Manage Tax Cards During Employee Transfers above.

However, you can disable this sync process. In those cases, you must run it manually to update the cards.

1. From My Client Groups, click Payroll.

2. Click Submit a Flow.

3. Enter your US legislative data group (LDG), and select Sync Calculation Cards.

4. Enter the necessary parameters, and start the process.

   For further info, see Sync Calculation Cards in the Help Center.