Toast Payroll: Update Form W-4 Information

Last updated: May 26, 2026, 4:16 PM

Discover how to update Form W-4s. This is vital to make sure employee's year-end documents correctly reflect the employee's tax situation.

If an employee does not fill out their Form W-4, Toast Payroll uses the IRS guidelines to withhold the employee's Federal Income Tax (FIT) as if they filed as single with no deductions, also known as S-0. The idea behind this IRS guideline is that this withholding would lead to the highest per pay period taxes and it would be better to overwithhold the employee and refund when they file at year end, rather than under-withhold the employee and lead them to owe additional funds when filing their taxes. 

 

In this Article:

 

2026 Form W-4

The IRS recently released an updated Form W-4. Toast Payroll now supports the 2026 Federal W-4, including new additional lines and updated page 2 handling. When completing your Form W-4, you can use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator to help determine the appropriate withholding amounts based on your individual situation.

 

If an employee is a non-resident, please review IRS Notice 1392 for special instructions concerning how to fill out your Federal W-4.

 

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Update Form W-4 Information



To update form W-4 information, follow the steps below:

 

  1. Log into Toast Payroll and starting in the upper-left corner, navigate to My Profile > Taxes & Documents > Tax Forms tab.
  2. The state W-4 form(s) appears as a button rather than a hyperlink. Select Fill Out State W-4 or select the Federal W-4 hyperlink to update each respective form.

    Screen Shot 2022-01-31 at 2.38.34 PM.png

  3. Guidance for updating your Federal W-4 can be found on the IRS's website. Select Submit at the bottom of the page to approve your updates.
    1. In the rare case that you are exempt from federal income tax (FIT), ask your manager or employer to apply this exemption after you've filled out your federal Form W-4.
  4. If you are updating your state W-4 form, you will be asked a series of questions specific to your state. Once all questions across all state W-4s have been addressed, you will see the option to review and submit your form. At any point, you can toggle to the forms and instructions tab which will show the hard copy of the W-4 form. To toggle back to the filing questions, select the Wizard tab. 
    1. At certain times you will have to enter fields such as allowances and dependents. You won't be able to advance to the next question until you enter this information.
    2. Make sure to preview this form before submitting it. 
    3. Once you have finished filing your Form W-4, you will no longer be able to view it in the document library. To view the completed form or to fill out another W-4, navigate to the Tax forms tab and scroll down to the W-4 forms. Use the print icon to view a copy of the completed form. 
  5. Any changes you make here will take effect on the next payroll (as long as it hasn't been started or calculated yet). Check with your manager or payroll administrator to verify if the upcoming payroll has been started yet.

    Update-W4


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Form W-4 Settings for HR+ Users

Available only to HR+ users, there are additional settings that can be applied to an employee's Form W-4 values once they have filled out at least a federal Form W-4. Navigate to the employee's profile > Taxes & Documents > Tax Forms and select the yellow Edit button.

 

Form W-4 Settings pop-up

For illustration purposes. Your experience may differ.

 

Use these settings at your discretion. If you'd like to make an employee exempt from federal income tax (FIT), select Yes for the Exempt from Federal Withholding option before selecting Save.

 

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Additional Resources

 

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This content is for informational purposes and is not intended as legal, tax, HR, or any other professional advice. Please contact an attorney or other professional for advice.