W-4 - Federal Withholding Certificate, Nonresident Aliens

This page provides general information about the W-4 for foreign nationals who are nonresident aliens.
 

• The W-4 is the IRS form that employees complete and sign to designate the amount of federal income tax withholding.  It applies to all employees, although there are special rules for nonresident aliens. Note: If a nonresident alien's income is 100% exempt under a tax treaty,  the form is not required.
• If an employee does NOT complete a W-4, IRS requires a default of "Single and 0."  Note: Because of the strict rules below, some nonresident aliens are better off under the "default" method.

IRS requires additional withholding amounts on the W-4 for nonresident aliens. This is because they are generally not permitted to take the standard deductions or personal exemptions for family members, and the standard payroll withholding tables are based on these tax benefits. All foreign nationals should complete the Foreign National Questionnaire so that we can analyze their tax attributes (treaty status, W-4 issues, etc).