The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act overhauled a lot of tax rules, including doing away with personal exemptions. That prompted the IRS to change the W-4 form.

A W-4 form, or "Employee's Withholding Certificate," is an IRS form employees use to tell employers how much tax to withhold from each paycheck. SFUSD uses the W-4 to calculate certain payroll taxes and remit the taxes to the IRS and the state on behalf of employees. The new W-4, introduced in 2020, still asks for basic personal information but no longer asks for a number of allowances.

Got it. Why can’t I do it now?

EMPowerSF does not go live until July. Between now and July 6, SFUSD will not have a place to store your updated W-4. W-4 data will be migrated to EMPowerSF, but it is good practice to update your W-4 nonetheless.

Need support?

SFUSD is not legally allowed to provide tax support. There is an estimator worksheet in the IRS Form W-4 instructions to help you compute certain tax deductions you might have coming. For technical support on how to use EMPowerSF, links to Office Hours and resources will be found here.