Updated October 16, 2026. Quick answer: Form W-4P is the 2026 certificate a person gives to the payer of a pension or annuity to set federal income tax withholding on periodic payments. Steps 2 to 4 apply only when they fit the person’s situation. If no form is given, the payer withholds as if the filing status is single with no adjustments in Steps 2 through 4.
IRS worksheets read line by line: W-4 Multiple Jobs Worksheet and W-4P Deductions Worksheet.
Related reading on this site: IRS Publication 505.
Read box by box from the IRS form text: Form RRB-1099-R boxes 7 to 12.
Retirement forms read line by line: Form W-4P Step 1, Form W-4P Step 2 and Form W-4P Step 4.
Read box by box from the IRS form text: Form 1099-R boxes explained, Form 1099-R box 4 and Form 1099-R boxes 14 to 19.
Form 1040 for 2025, lines 12 to 38 read line by line: Form 1040 line 25.
What Form W-4P does and who gives it to whom
The first page opens with an instruction about where the form goes: “Give Form W-4P to the payer of your pension or annuity payments.” The form goes to the payer, who applies it to the payments.
The general instructions state the purpose: “Complete Form W-4P to have payers withhold the correct amount of federal income tax from your periodic pension, annuity (including commercial annuities), profit-sharing and stock bonus plan, or IRA payments.” They also set the scope of the withholding: “Federal income tax withholding applies to the taxable part of these payments.”
The form sends other payments elsewhere: “Don’t use Form W-4P for a nonperiodic payment (note that distributions from an IRA that are payable on demand are treated as nonperiodic payments) or an eligible rollover distribution (including a lump-sum pension payment).” Those payments use the sister form described on the Form W-4R page.
One form is needed per source: “Submit a separate Form W-4P for each pension, annuity, or other periodic payments you receive.” Payees who are nonresident aliens are excluded: “Do not use Form W-4P.” For that group the form points to other IRS publications, and anyone in that position should read the form itself.
Steps 1 and 5, and a map of the five parts
The form is built in five parts, and only some of them are always needed. The first page says that Steps 2 to 4 are for those they fit: “ONLY if they apply to you; otherwise, skip to Step 5.” The table below sets out what each part asks for.
| Part of the form | What it asks for |
|---|---|
| Step 1 | Personal information and filing status. On the filing status line, the instructions say “Check your anticipated filing status.” They add that this “will determine the standard deduction and tax rates used to compute your withholding.” |
| Step 2 | Income from a job, more than one pension or annuity, or a spouse’s job, pension or annuity. Optional, and skipped when it does not apply. |
| Step 3 | Claim dependent and other credits, for total income at or under the line printed in the step. |
| Step 4 | Other adjustments: 4(a) other income, 4(b) deductions, 4(c) extra withholding. |
| Step 5 | “Your signature (This form is not valid unless you sign it.)” |
Step 5 is the signature and date, and the signature box states that the form is not valid unsigned.
Steps 2 and 3: other income sources and credits
Step 2 handles the case where the pension is not the only income that has tax withheld. The printed wording says to complete it when you “have income from a job or more than one pension/annuity” or are married filing jointly and the spouse has such income. The form offers two routes: using the online estimator, or completing items (i), (ii) and (iii) by hand. It says that anyone with self-employment income should use the estimator route.
The instructions give four worked cases for the hand-completed route. They are IRS examples with IRS figures, reproduced here as printed:
| Case | What the instructions say |
|---|---|
| Example 1, a job plus the pension | “Taylor, a single filer, is completing Form W-4P for a pension that pays $50,000 a year. Taylor also has a job that pays $25,000 a year.” “Taylor will enter $25,000 in Step 2(b)(i) and in Step 2(b)(iii).” |
| Example 4, a job and a smaller pension | “Alex will enter $25,000 in Step 2(b)(i), $20,000 in Step 2(b)(ii), and $45,000 in Step 2(b)(iii).” |
The rule that decides which form carries Steps 3 through 4(b) is stated this way: “If you (or if married filing jointly, you and/or your spouse) have a job(s), do NOT complete Steps 3 through 4(b) on Form W-4P.” “Instead, complete Steps 3 through 4(b) on the Form W-4 for the job.” With no job, the rule becomes: “complete Steps 3 through 4(b) on Form W-4P for only the pension/annuity that pays the most annually.” “Leave those steps blank for the other pensions/annuities.”
Step 3 is about credits, and the form prints the arithmetic:
| Item | As printed on the form |
|---|---|
| Income line | “If your total income will be $200,000 or less ($400,000 or less if married filing jointly):” |
| Step 3(a) | “Multiply the number of qualifying children under age 17 by $2,200” |
| Step 3(b) | “Multiply the number of other dependents by $500” |
| Step 3(c) | “Add other credits, such as foreign tax credit and education tax credits.” |
The instructions explain who qualifies for the child credit amount: “To qualify for the child tax credit, the child must be under age 17 as of December 31, must be your dependent who generally lives with you for more than half the year, and must have the required social security number.” They also say what claiming credits does to the payments: “Including these credits will increase your payments and reduce the amount of any refund you may receive when you file your tax return.”
The following is an illustration with made-up inputs, not an IRS example. A single pension with no job and total income at or under the line printed in Step 3 has two qualifying children under age 17, one other dependent and no other credits:
| Entry | Amount | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Qualifying children under age 17 | 2 | Illustration input |
| Step 3(a): 2 children times $2,200 | $4,400 | Computed here: 2 times $2,200 |
| Other dependents | 1 | Illustration input |
| Step 3(b): 1 dependent times $500 | $500 | Computed here: 1 times $500 |
| Step 3(c): other credits | $0 | Illustration input, none claimed |
| Step 3 total | $4,900 | Computed here: $4,400 plus $500 plus $0 |
Step 4: other income, deductions and extra withholding
Step 4 has three lines. Line 4(a) is for income that has no withholding of its own: “If you want tax withheld on other income you expect this year that won’t have withholding, enter the amount of other income here.” They also describe the effect: “If you complete Step 4(a), you likely won’t have to make estimated tax payments for that income.” The alternative is on the Form 1040-ES page.
Line 4(b) is for deductions beyond the basic standard deduction. The form gives the default for a blank line: “If you skip this line, your withholding will be based on the standard deduction.” The instructions say when to fill it in: “Enter in this step the amount from the Deductions Worksheet, line 17, if you expect to claim deductions other than the basic standard deduction on your 2026 tax return and want to reduce your withholding to account for these deductions.”.
Line 4(c) adds withholding: “Enter in this step any additional tax you want withheld from each payment.” “Entering an amount here will reduce your payments and will either increase your refund or reduce any amount of tax that you owe when you file your tax return.”
No withholding, the default, and when to use the estimator
The form lets a payee opt out: “You can choose not to have federal income tax withheld from your payments by checking the box in the No withholding section.” “Then, complete Steps 1(a), 1(b), and 5.” There is a limit for payments going abroad: “Generally, if you are a U.S. citizen or a resident alien, you are not permitted to elect not to have federal income tax withheld on payments to be delivered outside the United States and its territories.”
A caution sets out the cost of getting the amount wrong: “If you have too little tax withheld, you will generally owe tax when you file your tax return and may owe a penalty unless you make timely payments of estimated tax.” “If too much tax is withheld, you will generally be due a refund when you file your tax return.”
The default is set by a note at the end of the specific instructions: “If you don’t give Form W-4P to your payer, you don’t provide an SSN, or the IRS notifies the payer that you gave an incorrect SSN, then the payer will withhold tax from your payments as if your filing status is single with no adjustments in Steps 2 through 4.” For payments already in progress: “For payments that began before 2026, your current withholding election (or your default rate) remains in effect unless you submit a new Form W-4P.”
The general instructions suggest an online tool, and list when to use it. The first two cases are: “Are submitting this form after the beginning of the year” and “Have social security, dividend, capital gain, or business income, or are subject to the Additional Medicare Tax or Net Investment Income Tax”. The pension side of the planning questions is on the 20 percent pension lump sum page, and the state side is on the retirement taxes by state page.
Publication 505 gives the timing for a certificate handed over on or before the date payments start: “If you give your withholding certificate (Form W-4P or a similar form) to the payer on or before the date your payments start, it will be put into effect by the first payment made more than 30 days after you submit the certificate.”
The edition read for this page is Form W-4P for 2026, which is the revision irs.gov served when it was read on 2026-10-16. Its footer carries the catalog number and creation date shown on the form. Check the revision printed on the form you hand to a payer, because a later year can change the credit amounts, the standard deduction figures and the worksheet.
Every Form W-4P step page in one table
Each row links to the page that reads a part, section or line group of Form W-4P. The right column is the summary each page carries.
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Form W-4P Step 1: Your Information and Filing Status (2026) | Form W-4P Step 1 for 2026, line by line: name, Social Security number, the filing status boxes, the Caution and TIP, and what a payer does without the form. |
| Form W-4P Step 2: Other Jobs and Multiple Pensions (2026) | Form W-4P Step 2 for 2026: the estimator option, items 2(b)(i) to (iii), the rule for which pension completes Steps 3 to 4(b), and the form’s own four examples. |
| Form W-4P Step 3: Dependents and Other Credits (2026) | Form W-4P Step 3 for 2026, line by line: lines 3(a), 3(b), 3(c) and the total, the income test in the form’s own text, and when to leave Step 3 blank. |
| Form W-4P Step 4: Other Adjustments and No Withholding (2026) | Form W-4P Step 4 for 2026: other income, deductions from the Deductions Worksheet, extra withholding, the No withholding box and the Step 5 signature. |
Common mistakes
- Filing Form W-4P for a lump sum or a payment on demand from an IRA. The form says not to use it for a nonperiodic payment or an eligible rollover distribution, and sends those to Form W-4R.
- Completing Steps 3 through 4(b) on every pension. The instructions say to complete them on the Form W-4 for the job when there is a job, or on only the pension that pays the most annually when there is not.
- Assuming that no form means no withholding. With no form, or no valid SSN, the payer withholds as single with no adjustments in Steps 2 through 4, and a pre-2026 election stays in effect until a new form is submitted.
Related: 20 percent withholding on a pension lump sum, retirement taxes by state, 2026 tax brackets, and pension and annuity decisions.
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Answer againSources
- Form W-4P (2026), Withholding Certificate for Periodic Pension or Annuity Payments: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4p.pdf
- Publication 505 (2026), Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p505.pdf
Read from the IRS documents linked above on October 16, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the account provider or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.