These tables were derived from Publication
15, Circular E, Employer's Tax Guide from the IRS. If you know the total
amount you want to withhold, you can subtract the amount which will be withheld
based on marital status and number of exemptions to give an additional
withholding amount. If these tables change in subsequent years you will be at
least partially protected if you don't change your withholding preference.
The marginal tax bracket and calculated withholding are displayed for zero thru
seven exemptions for both single and married taxpayers.
All calculations
are done at the annual level (allowable per above publication) and may not be
exact due to roundoff error. For example on page 45, an unmarried employee is
paid $800 weekly. This employee has in effect a Form W-4 claiming two
withholding allowances. This gives $64.11 using weekly tables and $64.12 here,
but could be off by several cents.
The following example, also from page 45,
is from that publication and reproduces its final answer:
Annual
income tax withholding. A married person claims four withholding allowances.
She is paid $1,000 a week. Multiply the weekly wages by 52 weeks to figure the
annual wage of $52,000. Subtract $16,800 (the value of four withholding
allowances for 2017) for a balance of $35,200. Using the table for the annual
payroll period on page 47, $2,420.00 is withheld. Divide the annual tax by 52.
The weekly income tax to withhold is $46.54.