Finance Blog

The W-series forms of the IRS cover several topics, from taxes withheld by employers from employees
wages to the certification of foreign status for non-American citizens. The first type of form is the W-2, which
is also known as the Wage and Tax Statement. An employer has to provide one of these forms for each
employee at his company, as it delivers information on the wages being paid to the employee, the amount
of tax that is being withheld from his salary and for what reason, and also the FICA taxes taken for the
SSA. This is then sent to the IRS.

On the other hand, Form W-4 is not sent to the IRS. It is held by employers as a means of calculating the
appropriate amount of tax to be withheld from each employees salary. This is usually checked against Form
1040, where the amount of tax required of an individual may be found. That amount should, in most cases,
be equal to the amount stated in Form W-4 as the tax being withheld.

Then there is Form W-8BEN. This form certifies that an employee (or company) is not a US citizen and is
thus exempt from tax withholding by the employer. This form is also known as the Certificate of Foreign
Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding.

Lastly, there is Form W-9. This is another of those forms that does not really make it to the IRS but stays in
the possession of another person. The official name for this form is the Request for Taxpayer Identification
Number and Certification, and it is generally intended to help the person holding it collect information on
someone else, e.g. an employee.

Author recommends to check out more about 2008 tax and 2007 tax .

Comments are closed.