The New Draft Version 2019 IRS Form W-4 Is A Rage Inducing Abomination

John Dundon,2019 Draft W-4

The New Draft version 2019 Form W-4 is a rage inducing abomination.

When I first looked at the new Draft version of the 2019 Form W-4 Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate my initial reaction was rage.  Yes, rage! Rage towards an unnecessary yet profound encroachment of privacy by our federal government. When you view the form you will see that you now must report for the love of the almighty two very private pieces of data to your employer:

  1. All other income earned outside your job
  2. Total itemized deductions.

Your employer has no business knowing this information about you! What is happening?

Thanks to the eukaryote dimwits in charge (e-DICs), the budget busting, deficit exploding Tax Cut & Jobs Act (TCJA) now requires that “your employer” calculate “your” income tax withholding in a different way than before. This is accomplished by imposing upon you in exchange for gainful employment an obligation to prepare, sign (under penalty of perjury) and submit to your employer IRS Form W-4.

Because the NEW REGIME W-4 relies on other non-wage income, deductions and tax credits as opposed to simple allowances like the good old days  – 🙂 you are now forced to share with your employer things that your employer may have previously not known about you or worse still…things that you may not want your employer to know about you! Why is this important?

Because this newly shared information can and will be used to discriminate against you!

  • Disclosing private information about your unrelated sources of income to your employer says a LOT about whether you really need the job – aka degree of commitment.
  • Disclosing deductions and credits to your employer define the engagements outside the job – aka potential for distractions.

The draft of the 2019 Instructions For Form W-4 is 11 pages – E-L-E-V-E-N   P-A-G-E-S long and has been substantially updated to “comply” with the hastily enacted TCJA.

If you have a simple tax situation you may be able to use the brief instructions on the back of the form; however, complex situations necessitate use of the worksheets provided with the instructions.

The IRS stated that the focus of the form is to move away from the number of withholding allowances to more direct reporting of adjustments to income. Never mind the fact that we are now obligated to disclose things to our employer that is NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS!

I encourage anyone who has made it this far in the post to submit comments about this unnecessary encroachment into our private lives to WI.W4.Comments@IRS.gov.

Your employer already knows enough about you. Do they really need to know how much $$ you make outside your job or how much in deductions or credits you claim? NO!

The draft version of the 2019 Form W-4 is one full page with eleven pages of instructions.

Have questions how to fill out this form? Contact John Dundon.

 

 

Enrolled with the United States Treasury Department to practice before the IRS, governed by rules stipulated in United States Treasury Circular 230. As a Federally Authorized Tax Practitioner and a tax appeals specialist my Enrolled Agent License #85353 is issued by the United States Treasury. With this license I work for U.S. taxpayers everywhere to resolve tax matters and de-escalate stress about taxes or tax disputes for individuals and corporations with federal and state issues.

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1 comment on “The New Draft Version 2019 IRS Form W-4 Is A Rage Inducing Abomination”

  • Lawrence Rogers, EA

    John
    You are entirely correct. Many persons will need to hire a tax professional to complete the form. The average person just will not be able to do it on their own regardless if they have a “calculator” or not. Will a mistake or other misstatement create a penalty situation? It is a gross invasion of privacy. I’m appalled. It’s just not right, only expedient.

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