What is the purpose of withholding declaration forms?

Form W-4 is Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate. You fill out form W-4 for your employer to indicate your filing status and number of exemptions. Your employer figures the amount of taxes to be withheld (income, Medicare, Social Security) from your earnings based on your filing status and number of exemptions. The purpose of Form W-4 is to make your withholdings as accurate as possible. In this way, you won't have a large tax due balance on your tax return.

For more information, go to www.irs.gov/formspubs for Publication 919 (How Do I Adjust My Tax Withholding?).