Federal W-4 & Tax Set Up

Overview

Updated 1/15/2022

The 2020 W-4 came with many changes that required new setup in Avionté. As of 1/1/20, Avionté will look to the tax setup for employees in the US Federal Tax tab in Employee > Payroll > Tax first before looking to the Tax Set Up tab, which will house information configured from pre-2020 W-4s.

ACTION REQUIRED: Annually, in order to adopt the new Federal W-4, you will need to activate the e-signature document (if using electronic W-4s) and follow a the process for entering employee tax setup in the Employee > Payroll > Tax section.

• Click here for information on activating Adobe Sign Document in AviontéBOLD
• Click here for information on activating Adobe Sign Document in AviontéAERO
• Click here for information on entering Employee's W-4 Selections Manually (Paper Form)

2020 W-4 & Tax Set Up Training Webinar
Activate the 2020 W-4 E-Signature Document
    Using Legacy eDocuments
Using Adobe Sign
    Activate Adobe Template in AviontéAERO
    Activate Adobe Template in AviontéBOLD
Entering Employee Taxes Manually (Paper Form)
    Manually Enter a W-4 Form for a New Employee
    Manually Enter an Updated W-4 Form for an Existing Employee
Setting Exempt Status (Manual)
    Tax Exempt Employees with a Taxable Wage
    Non-Citizen Employees

2020 W-4 & Tax Set Up Training Webinar

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Activate the W-4 E-Signature Document

Avionté offers the electronic W-4 as a standard eDocument and Adobe Sign template. Follow the instructions below based on which e-document solution you are using: 

Using Classic eDocuments

If you are utilizing the employee portals and Avionté Classic E-Documents, you now have the new W-4 Form available to send to candidates. Due to this being a brand-new form, you must log into the Administrator Portal and make it active for the applicable branches. After the new eDocument is activated, you can send this to employees via the Employee > Documents > Edocuments tab as normal. Once the employee completes the 2020 or later W-4 e-signature document, the employee's selections will automatically be entered and saved into the new US Federal Tax tab in Employee > Payroll > Tax.

In order to activate the new 2020 or Later W-4 as an eDocument:

1. Log into your Administrator (Admin) Portal.

2. Select Edocuments from the main menu.
   
   

3. From the list of eDocuments, click View next to the edocument titled "W4 Form"
   
   
   

4. A new window will open. Check off any branches which will need to use the new Federal W-4.

5. Click Update to save.

The previous version of the W-4 Form will now be labeled "OLD," to designate it as being the previous version. You may also consider inactivating this old version of the eDocument. You can inactivate the old version using the step above, but instead uncheck the boxes for branches.

Note: Hosted clients have already received this updated eDocument. Self-hosted clients must create a ticket and request a system upgrade to receive this new functionality.  

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Using Adobe Sign

To use the 2020 or later W-4 with Adobe Sign, you will need to activate the new 2020 or later W-4 document template to add it to your onboarding process. Once the form is activated, you can send it to employees via an Onboarding Task. Once the employee completes the Federal W-4 e-signature document, the employee's selections will automatically be entered and saved into the new US Federal Tax tab in Employee > Payroll > Tax.

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Activate Adobe Template in AviontéAERO

1. Navigate to Admin > Talent Module Settings
   
   
2. Select the Onboarding tab at the top of the screen
   
   
3. Scroll to the E-Signature Templates section and locate the template named "Federal W4 (2022)"
   
   
4. Toggle this template to be On
   
   
5. Click on the name of the template in the list to configure the document.
   
   
6. Ensure the Template Type is set to Federal W-4
   
   
7. Make any other necessary set-up changes such as permissions. For more information on this configuration, see the Talent Module Settings article.
8. Click Save.
   
   
9. You may also choose to turn off the Federal W4 (2022) document in order to eliminate confusion and prevent future employees from completing the old version of the form. If the Federal W4 is part of any Onboarding Packets, be sure to navigate to the Packets tab to update the packets accordingly.

To have employees complete the new W-4, you will send the W-4 as a Talent Task as normal. Once the employee completes the W-4 e-signature document, the employee's selections will automatically be entered and saved into the new US Federal Tax tab in Employee > Payroll > Tax.

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Activate Adobe Template in AviontéBOLD

1. Navigate to Utilities > Onboarding Tasks
   
   
2. Expand the E-Signature Templates section
   
   
3. Click on the name of the template in the list to configure the document.
   
   
4. Ensure the Template Type is set to Federal W-4
   (2 Signatures to display Employer Information section if desired)
   
5. Make any other necessary set-up changes such as group permissions. For more information on this configuration, see the Talent Onboarding - Admin Actions article.
   
   
6. Click Save
   
   
7. In the templates list, switch the template named "Federal W-4 (2022)" to On
   (Group Level Permissions must be set in order to turn template on)
   

To have employees complete the new 2022 W-4, you will send the 2022 W-4 as a Talent Task, as normal. Once the employee completes the 2022 W-4 e-signature document, the employee's selections will automatically be entered and saved into the new US Federal Tax tab in Employee > Payroll > Tax.

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Entering Employee Taxes Manually (Paper Form)

If you are collecting employees' W-4 forms within the Employee > Payroll > Tax screen, there is a new side-tab called US Federal Tax, in use since 2020. The original Tax Set Up side tab will continue to house any previous (pre-2020) tax setup as well as state and local configuration. When generating checks, the system will pull from the original tab for exemptions during processing of payroll. However, beginning in 2020 & later, federal tax setup will be done in the US Federal Tax side-tab.

All U.S. State & Canadian taxes will continue to operate on the Tax Set Up tab. Only U.S. Federal Taxes beginning on 2020 should be entered into the US Federal Tax tab.

The instructions below outline how to enter employee federal tax withholding manually (if using paper forms). If you are using the 2021 W-4 e-signature documents, the employee's selections will automatically flow into the US Federal Tax tab in the Employee > Payroll > Tax section.

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Manually Enter a W-4 Form for a New Employee

1. Navigate to Employee > Payroll > Tax > US Federal Tax Tab. If this is a new employee who has never had tax information entered before, click Create Default Taxes. 
   
   
   
   
2. All tax fields should populate in the grid (Filing Status, Multiple Jobs Checkbox, Qualifying Children, Other Dependents, Other Income, Deductions, Extra Withholding). Update each column with selections from the employee's W-4.
   
   
   
   Note: If the employee completed their Federal W-4 as exempt, enter "999999" into deductions for exempt employees
   
   
3. Click Save to save the employee's configuration 
   
   

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Manually Enter an Updated W-4 Form for an Existing Employee

1. Navigate to Employee > Payroll > Tax > US Federal Tax Tab. If you are entering a new form for an employee who has previously had taxes entered, click Create Additional Tax.
   
   
2. In the Employee Tax Add pop-up that appears, use the Select Tax field to search for Federal Income Tax. Type "Fed" and hit Enter on your keyboard to search. Click on Federal Income Tax. Once Federal Income Tax is selected, new fields will populate to fill in 2020 & later W-4 information: 
   
   
   
   
3. Enter the employee's selections from the 2020 & Later W-4 in the Filing Status, Other Dependents, Qualifying Children, Additional Withholdings, Other Income, Deductions, and Has Multiple Jobs fields. 
   
   
4. Click Finish. 

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Setting Exempt Status (Manual)

Tax Exempt Employees with a Taxable Wage

The first method sets tax exemptions for employees who are exempt from one or more taxes but still have a taxable wage. To set an employee as tax exempt with a taxable wage because they filled out an exempt Federal W-4:

1. From US Federal Tax, enter "999999" under Deductions in order to ensure Exempt is passed to Vertex, the Avionté tax processing tool.
   
   
2. Click Save to hold your changes.

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Non-Citizen Employees

The second method sets tax exemptions for employees who are not citizens of the United States, have no taxable wages, and are truly exempt from all taxes, e.g., an employee who has an F-1 Visa or a Green Card. To use this method:

1. From US Federal Tax, check the box in the IsTaxExempt column
   
   
2. Click Save to hold your changes.
    

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