Internal Revenue Service
Fill out Form W-4P online
Withholding Certificate for Periodic Pension or Annuity Payments
Form W-4P tells the payer of a periodic pension, annuity, IRA, profit-sharing or stock bonus plan payment how much federal income tax to withhold from each payment. You give it to the payer of your pension or annuity. It also lets you ask for extra withholding or, where the rules allow it, no withholding at all.
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- Edition
- Tax year 2026
- Pages
- 4
- Fillable fields
- 44
- Checked against the IRS
- November 8, 2026
GuruPDF is not affiliated with the Internal Revenue Service. This page explains the form in plain words; it is not legal or tax advice. Always check the official instructions before you file. This is the tax year 2026 version; the IRS keeps forms for earlier years.
Who uses Form W-4P
- Retirees who receive regular pension payments
- People receiving periodic annuity payments, including commercial annuities
- People taking regular installment payments from an IRA, profit-sharing plan or stock bonus plan
- Payees who want to change their withholding or have extra tax withheld
- Payees who want no federal income tax withheld, where this is permitted
Before you start
- Your Social Security number and current address
- The filing status you expect to use on your tax return
- Yearly pay from any jobs and yearly amounts from any other pensions or annuities (yours, and your spouse's if you file jointly)
- The number of qualifying children under 17 and other dependents, if you will claim credits in Step 3
- Estimates of other income and deductions you expect this year, if you will use Step 4
- Your most recent payment statements or pay stubs, if you plan to use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator
How to fill out Form W-4P
Step 1: Personal information
Enter your first name, middle initial and last name in 1(a), your Social Security number in 1(b), and your address. In 1(c), check one filing status: Single or Married filing separately; Married filing jointly or Qualifying surviving spouse; or Head of household. Your filing status determines the standard deduction and tax rates used to figure your withholding.
Step 2: Income from a job and/or multiple pensions or annuities
Complete this step if you have income from a job or from more than one pension or annuity, or if you file jointly and your spouse has income from a job, pension or annuity. Do only one of two things: use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator (option a, which the form says to use if you or your spouse have self-employment income), or fill in items (b)(i) to (iii). Item (i) is the total taxable yearly pay from all jobs, plus any income entered in Step 4(a) and minus any deductions entered in Step 4(b) of the Form W-4 for those jobs. Item (ii) is the yearly total from pensions or annuities that pay less than this one. Item (iii) adds the two. Page 2 of the form has worked examples.
Step 3: Claim dependent and other credits
Fill in Steps 3 through 4(b) only if Step 2(b)(i) is blank and this pension or annuity pays you the most each year. Line 3(a) is for qualifying children under age 17, line 3(b) for other dependents, and line 3(c) for other credits such as the foreign tax credit and education credits. Use the amounts and income limit printed on the form, then add the three lines and enter the total on line 3.
Step 4: Other adjustments
In 4(a), enter other income you expect this year that will not have withholding, such as interest, dividends or taxable Social Security. Do not include pay from jobs or pension and annuity payments. In 4(b), enter the result of the Deductions Worksheet; if you leave it blank, withholding is based on the standard deduction. In 4(c), enter any extra tax you want withheld from each payment.
Step 4(b) Deductions Worksheet (page 4)
Use this worksheet if you expect to claim deductions other than the basic standard deduction on your 2026 return. Lines 1a to 1c cover qualified tips, qualified overtime compensation and qualified passenger vehicle loan interest, and lines 3a and 3b are for you and your spouse if age 65 or older; the form points to the Instructions for Schedule 1-A (Form 1040) to check whether you qualify. Line 5 covers adjustments such as student loan interest and deductible IRA contributions, lines 6a to 6e cover itemized deductions, and lines 8 to 16 apply a limit and compare your deductions with the standard deduction. Line 17 is the total to enter in Step 4(b). Keep the worksheet for your records.
No withholding
Check the box below Step 4(c) only if you want no federal income tax withheld from these payments. If you check it, complete Steps 1(a), 1(b) and 5. If you later want withholding again, submit a new Form W-4P.
Step 5: Sign here
Sign and date the form. The form states that it is not valid unless you sign it.
After you fill it out
Give the signed form to the payer of your pension or annuity. Ask the payer how to send it; payers may also set up their own electronic or telephone systems for Form W-4P elections. Submit a separate Form W-4P for each pension, annuity or other periodic payment, and submit a new one if your tax situation changes.
Signing: The form is not valid unless you sign it in Step 5, and it has a line for the date. IRS guidance lets payers set up electronic systems where you sign Form W-4P with an e-signature; otherwise print the form and sign it, or follow your payer's instructions.
Watch out for
- Do not use Form W-4P for nonperiodic payments or eligible rollover distributions, such as a lump-sum pension payment or IRA distributions payable on demand. Use Form W-4R for those.
- If you do not give the payer a Form W-4P, you do not provide a Social Security number, or the IRS tells the payer your number is incorrect, the payer withholds as if your filing status is single with no adjustments in Steps 2 through 4.
- U.S. citizens and resident aliens generally cannot choose no withholding for payments delivered outside the United States and its territories.
- Nonresident aliens and foreign estates do not use Form W-4P. The form points them to Pub. 515 and Pub. 519.
Questions about Form W-4P
Do I send Form W-4P to the IRS?
No. The form says to give it to the payer of your pension or annuity payments, who uses it to figure how much federal income tax to withhold.
I receive more than one pension. Do I need more than one form?
Yes. Submit a separate Form W-4P for each pension, annuity or other periodic payment. If you (or your spouse, if filing jointly) have a job, complete Steps 3 through 4(b) on the Form W-4 for the job instead; if there is no job, complete them only on the Form W-4P for the pension or annuity that pays the most each year.
Can I choose to have no federal income tax withheld?
You can check the No withholding box and complete Steps 1(a), 1(b) and 5. U.S. citizens and resident aliens generally cannot make this choice for payments delivered outside the United States and its territories. If too little tax is withheld, you will generally owe tax when you file and may owe a penalty unless you make timely estimated tax payments.
What happens if I do not submit a new Form W-4P?
For payments that began before 2026, your current withholding election (or your default rate) stays in effect unless you submit a new Form W-4P. The form also says that if you do not give the payer a Form W-4P, the payer withholds as if your filing status is single with no adjustments in Steps 2 through 4.
What changed on the 2026 form?
The IRS says the 2026 form adds a checkbox below Step 4(c) to request no withholding; on earlier forms you wrote "No withholding" there. The form was also updated for new federal income tax deductions under P.L. 119-21, which appear on the Deductions Worksheet.
Official information
- About Form W-4P (IRS)
- IRS Tax Withholding Estimator
- About Form W-4R, for nonperiodic payments and rollovers (IRS)
Page text last reviewed November 7, 2026.