Department of Taxation and Finance

Instructions for Form IT-2104 Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate

IT-2104-I

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Overview

Form IT-2104 is completed by you, as an employee, and given to your employer to instruct them how much New York State (and New York City and Yonkers) tax to withhold from your pay and send to the New York State Tax Department on your behalf.

Your employer will use the information you provide on this form—including residency, marital status, and allowances—to withhold these taxes from your pay. The more allowances you claim, the lower the amount of tax your employer will withhold from your paycheck.

Definition

Allowances: A withholding allowance is an exemption that lowers the amount of income tax your employer must deduct from your paycheck. A larger number of withholding allowances means a smaller New York income tax deduction from your paycheck, and a smaller number of allowances means a larger New York income tax deduction from your paycheck.

Changes effective beginning 2023

Form IT-2104-I has been revised for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2023.  If you previously filed Form IT-2104 prior to January 1, 2023 and used the worksheet or charts, you should complete a new 2024 Form IT-2104 and give it to your employer.

Who should file this form

Complete Form IT-2104 and file it with your employer each year if any of the following apply:

Life changes

• you are no longer a dependent
• you got married
• you became divorced or legally separated
• you had a child
• you moved into or out of New York City or Yonkers

Income changes

• your wages increased and you expect to earn $107,650 or more during the tax year
• the total of your income and your spouse’s income increased to $107,650 or more for the tax year
• you have significantly more or less income from other sources or from another job, including self-employment

Job changes

• you started or ended a new job
• you are a covered employee of an employer that has elected to participate in the Employer Compensation Expense Program

Tax situation changes

• you itemize your deductions on your personal income tax return
• you are eligible for New York State credits (such as the earned income, child and dependent care, or college tuition credits)
• you owed tax or received a large refund when you filed your personal income tax return for the past year
• you no longer qualify for exemption from withholding
• the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) advised you that you are entitled to fewer allowances than claimed on your original federal Form W-4 (submitted to your employer for tax year 2019 or earlier), and you claimed the disallowed allowances on your original Form IT-2104

Tax years 2019 or earlier

If the most recent federal Form W-4 you submitted to your employer was for tax year 2019 or earlier, and you did not file New York State Form IT-2104, your employer may use the same number of allowances you claimed on your federal Form W-4. Due to differences in federal and New York State tax law, this may result in the wrong amount of tax withheld for New York State, New York City, and Yonkers.

Tax years 2020 or later

If you submit a federal Form W-4 to your employer for tax year 2020 or later, and do not file New York State Form IT-2104, your employer may use zero as your number of allowances. For tax years 2020 or later, withholding allowances are no longer reported on federal Form W-4. This may result in the wrong amount of tax withheld for New York State, New York City, and Yonkers.

How often to submit Form IT-2104 to your employer

When you start a new job, complete Form IT-2104. You should review the form you submitted for each job you have every year. Whenever your tax situation changes and you need to update the number of allowances you may claim, submit a new Form IT-2104 to your employer.

Claiming the correct number of withholding allowances

General information

Calculations

Calculate the number of withholding allowances you want to claim in Part 1 and Part 4 of the worksheet. If you want more tax withheld, you may claim fewer allowances. 

Allowances you may not claim

You may not claim a withholding allowance for yourself or, if married, your spouse.

If you have more than one job

If you have more than one job, file a separate IT-2104 certificate with each of your employers. Be sure to claim only the total number of allowances that you are entitled to.

If you claim all your allowances at your higher-paying job and zero allowances at the lower-paying job, your withholding will better match your total tax liability.

Dependents

If you are a dependent of another taxpayer and expect to earn more than $3,100, you should reduce your withholding allowances by one for each $1,000 of income over $2,500. This will help make sure your employer withholds enough tax. If you calculate a negative number of allowances (less than zero), see Claiming negative allowances and Additional dollar amounts.

Heads of households with only one job

If you will use the head-of-household filing status on your state income tax return, mark the Single or Head of household box on the front of the form. If you have only one job, you may also choose to claim two additional withholding allowances on line 15.

Single or head of household taxpayers with two or more jobs

If you are a single or head of household taxpayer, and your combined wages from all your jobs are under $107,650, reduce the number of allowances by seven on line 1 and line 2 (if applicable) on the certificate you file with your employer for your higher-paying job. If you calculate a negative number of allowances (less than zero), see Claiming negative allowances below.

If you are a single or head of household taxpayer, and your combined wages from all your jobs are between $107,650 and $2,263,265, use the charts in Part 6 and enter the additional withholding dollar amount from the chart on line 3.

Married couples with both spouses working

If you and your spouse both work, you should each file a separate IT-2104 certificate with your own respective employers.

If the higher wage-earning spouse claims all the allowances the couple is entitled to, and the lower wage-earning spouse claims zero allowances, your withholding will better match your total tax liability. Do not claim more total allowances than you are entitled to.

If your combined wages are:

• less than $107,650, you should each mark an X in the Married, but withhold at higher single rate box on the certificate front, and divide the total number of allowances that you compute on line 19 and line 31 (if applicable) between you and your working spouse
• $107,650 or more, use the charts in Part 5 and enter the additional withholding dollar amount on line 3

Married taxpayers with two or more jobs

If you are a married taxpayer, and your combined wages from all your jobs are $107,650 or more, use the charts in Part 5 and enter the additional withholding dollar amount from the chart on line 3 (substitute the words Higher-paying job for Higher earner’s wages within the chart).

Specific information

Follow these instructions to make sure you withhold the correct amount, so that you will not owe additional tax when you file your income tax return.

Claiming more than 14 allowances

If you claim more than 14 allowances, your employer must send a copy of your Form IT-2104 to the New York State Tax Department. You may then be asked to verify your allowances. The Tax Department will review your certificate and notify your employer of any adjustments that must be made to either the filing status or number of withholding allowances permitted, or both.

Claiming negative allowances

If you use the worksheet and calculate a negative number of allowances (less than zero) on lines 1 or 2 and your employer cannot accommodate negative allowances, enter 0 and see Additional dollar amounts below.

Income from sources other than wages

If you have more than $1,000 of income from sources other than wages (such as self-employment income, interest, dividends, or alimony received) and do not make estimated tax payments for that income, reduce the number of allowances claimed on line 1 and line 2 (if applicable) of the form by one for each $1,000 of nonwage income. If you calculate a negative number of allowances (less than zero), see Claiming negative allowances above.

If you have significant amounts of nonwage income (income that is not reported on federal Form W-2), you may also consider making quarterly estimated tax payments directly to the Tax Department. For more information, see Estimated taxes, Form IT-2105-I, Instructions for Form IT-2105, Estimated Tax Payment Voucher for Individuals, or Need help?.

Claiming other credits

If you will be eligible to claim any credits other than the credits listed in the worksheet, such as an investment tax credit, you may claim additional allowances as follows:

1. Find your filing status and your New York adjusted gross income (NYAGI) in the chart below.
2. Divide the amount of the expected credit by the number indicated. (To determine the amount, see the instructions for the credit you are claiming.)
3. Enter the result (rounded to the nearest whole number) on line 14 of the Worksheet.

Example: You are married and expect your New York adjusted gross income to be less than $323,200. In addition, you expect to receive a flow-through of an investment tax credit from the S corporation of which you are a shareholder. The investment tax credit will be $160. Divide the expected credit by 60. 160/60 = 2.6667. The additional withholding allowance would be 3. Enter 3 on line 14.

Additional dollar amounts

To ask your employer to withhold an additional dollar amount each pay period, complete lines 3, 4, and 5 on Form IT-2104, as applicable.

In most instances, if you calculate a negative number of allowances and your employer cannot accommodate that, you should ask to withhold these amounts for each negative allowance claimed:

• New York State (line 3): an additional $1.85 of tax withheld per week
• New York City (line 4): an additional $0.80 of tax withheld per week
• Yonkers residents (line 5): an additional 16.75% (0.1675) of the New York State amount

Note: The additional amounts provided in these instructions or calculated using the charts in Part 5 or Part 6 are accurate for a weekly payroll. Therefore, if you are not paid on a weekly basis, you will need to adjust the dollar amounts that you calculate.

For example, if you are paid biweekly, you must double the dollar amounts you calculated.

Avoid under withholding

Form IT-2104, together with your employer’s withholding tables, is designed to make sure the correct amount of tax is withheld from your pay. If you do not have enough tax withheld during the entire year, you may owe additional tax when you file your return. The Tax Department must charge you interest and may impose penalties in certain situations in addition to the tax you owe. Even if you do not file a return, we may determine that you owe personal income tax. In that case, we must add interest and applicable penalties to the amount of tax that you should have paid during the year.

Exemption from withholding

You cannot use Form IT-2104 to claim exemption from withholding. To claim exemption from income tax withholding, you must file one of the following with your employer:

• Form IT-2104-E, Certificate of Exemption from Withholding,
• Form IT-2104-IND, New York State Certificate of Exemption from Withholding
• Form IT-2104-MS, New York State Withholding Exemption Certificate for Military Service Personnel

To determine if you are eligible to file any of the above forms, see their corresponding instructions on our website (www.tax.ny.gov).

Employers

Box A

If you are required to submit a copy of an employee’s Form IT-2104 to the Tax Department because the employee claimed more than 14 allowances:

1. Mark an X in box A.

2. Send a copy of Form IT-2104 to: 

NYS TAX DEPARTMENT, INCOME TAX AUDIT ADMINISTRATOR
WITHHOLDING CERTIFICATE COORDINATOR
W A HARRIMAN CAMPUS
ALBANY NY  12227-0865

If not using U.S. Mail, see Publication 55, Designated Private Delivery Services.

3. If the employee is also a new hire or rehire, see Box B instructions.

Due dates for sending certificates received from employees claiming more than 14 allowances are:

Box B

If you are submitting a copy of this form to comply with New York State’s New Hire Reporting Program:

1. Mark an X in box B.
2. Enter the first day the employee performs services for which the employee will be paid wages, commissions, tips and any other type of compensation. (For services based solely on commissions, this is the first day an employee working for commissions is eligible to earn commissions.)
3. Mark an X in the Yes or No box indicating if dependent health insurance benefits are available to this employee. If Yes, enter the date the employee qualifies for coverage.
4. Within 20 days of hiring, submit the completed form as follows:

by mail

NYS TAX DEPARTMENT
NEW HIRE NOTIFICATION
PO BOX 15119
ALBANY NY  12212-5119

online

To report newly-hired or rehired employees online instead of submitting this form, visit https://www.nynewhire.com.

Note: Employers must report individuals under an independent contractor arrangement with contracts in excess of $2,500 using the New York New Hire Online Reporting Center, not Form IT-2104.

For more information, see New hire reporting or visit www.tax.ny.gov (search: new hire).

Part 5: These charts are only for married couples with both spouses working or married couples with one spouse working more than one job, and whose combined wages are between $107,650 and $2,263,265. Only one spouse should request the additional withholding. Either spouse can request the additional withholding; however, withholding will be most accurate if the additional withholding is computed on the highest paying job.

Enter the additional withholding dollar amount on line 3.

The additional dollar amount, as shown below, is accurate for a weekly payroll. If you are not paid on a weekly basis, you will need to adjust these dollar amounts. For example, if you are paid biweekly, you must double the dollar amounts computed.

Note: These charts do not account for additional withholding in the following instances:

• a married couple with both spouses working, where both spouse’s individual wages are more than $1,131,632 but less than $2,263,265;
• married taxpayers with only one spouse working, and that spouse works more than one job, with wages from each job under $2,263,265, but combined wages from all jobs is over $2,263,265.

If you are in one of these situations and you would like to request an additional dollar amount of withholding from your wages, contact the Tax Department for assistance (see Need help?).

Part 6: Use these charts only for single or head of household taxpayers with more than one job, and combined wages between $107,650 and $2,263,265.

Enter the additional withholding dollar amount on line 3.

The additional dollar amounts, as shown below, are accurate for a weekly payroll. If you are not paid on a weekly basis, you will need to adjust these dollar amounts. For example, if you are paid biweekly, you must double the dollar amounts you calculated.

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