The one-line answer

The W-4 is the form you fill out for your employer to control how much tax gets withheld from each paycheck. The W-2 is the form your employer sends you at year-end summarizing your wages and what was actually withheld.

W-4

Employee's Withholding Certificate

You fill it out and give to employer
Submitted when starting a new job
Tells employer how much to withhold
Can be updated anytime
Stays with employer (not sent to IRS)

W-2

Wage and Tax Statement

Employer fills out and sends to you
Sent in January for prior year
Reports wages and tax withheld
You use it to file your tax return
Sent to IRS, SSA, and you

How they work together

The W-4 and W-2 are two ends of the same process:

You start a new job. You fill out a W-4 telling your employer your filing status, dependents, and any extra withholding you want.
Throughout the year. Your employer uses your W-4 to calculate how much federal tax to withhold from each paycheck.
End of year. Your employer sends you a W-2 showing total wages paid and total tax withheld during the year.
April. You use the W-2 numbers to file your tax return. If too little was withheld, you owe. If too much, you get a refund.

If your W-2 shows too little or too much withholding

That's a sign your W-4 needs adjusting. If you owed a lot at tax time, increase your withholding by submitting a new W-4 with extra withholding in Step 4(c) or selecting a higher-rate filing status. If you got a huge refund, you can reduce your withholding to keep more in each paycheck throughout the year.

Need help filling out a new W-4? See our sister site W-4 Easy Guide for a free step-by-step W-4 calculator.

Key differences at a glance

	W-4	W-2
Who fills it out	You	Employer
When	Start of job	End of year
Purpose	Set withholding	Report wages
Goes to IRS?	No	Yes
Updated when	Anytime you want	Once per year

W-2 vs W-4: What's the Difference?

The one-line answer

How they work together

If your W-2 shows too little or too much withholding

Key differences at a glance

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