Federal Payments

You can choose to have income tax withheld from certain federal payments you receive. These payments are:

1. Social security benefits,
2. Tier 1 railroad retirement benefits,
3. Commodity credit loans you choose to include in your gross income, and
4. Payments under the Agricultural Act of 1949 (7 U.S.C. 1421 et seq.), or title II of the Disaster Assistance Act of 1988, as amended, that are treated as insurance proceeds and that you received because:
   1. Your crops were destroyed or damaged by drought, flood, or any other natural disaster, or
   2. You were unable to plant crops because of a natural disaster described in (a).

To make this choice, you will have to fill out Form W-4V (or a similar form provided by the payer) and give it to the payer. You can choose to have 7%, 15%, 28%, or 31% of each payment withheld.

If you do not choose to have income tax withheld, you may have to make estimated tax payments. See chapter 2.

If you do not pay enough tax either through withholding or estimated tax, you may have to pay a penalty. See chapter 4.

More information. For more information about the tax treatment of social security and railroad retirement benefits, get Publication 915, Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits. Get Publication 225, Farmer's Tax Guide, for information about the tax treatment of commodity credit loans or crop disaster payments.

Previous| First | Next

Publication Index | IRS-Forms Main | Home