Employees Can Easily Change Tax Withholding

WASHINGTON - Last week, over 20 million Americans sent in their tax forms. Many had put off filing until the last minute because they owed money. If you were one of those taxpayers, the Internal Revenue Service suggests you act now to avoid repeating the problem next year. Use Form W-4 to ask your employer to withhold a little more from each paycheck.

IRS Publication 919, "Is My Withholding Correct for 1993?", has worksheets to help you project your 1993 tax and explains how to change your withholding to avoid a shortfall. It is available by calling, toll-free, 1-800-TAX-FORM.

If you already know how much extra you want withheld, just divide the amount by the number of paydays left this year and put the result on line six of your W-4 form. Form W-4 affects only federal, not state, tax withholding.

If you are not an employee -- or as an alternative to changing your W-4 -- you may make quarterly estimated tax payments. The first estimated tax installment was due April 15. If you did not pay enough, you should send a supplement check as soon as possible to lower any penalty that amy apply.

As of April 16, the IRS had received 89.8 million returns, 9.9 percent fewer than for the same period last year. This figure does not include returns mailed in the last day or two before the deadline, since the Postal Service could not have delivered these to the IRS centers by April 16. The IRS has sent 52.1 million refunds, worth a total of $50.7 billion. At $974, the average refund is down 0.6 percent.

                     1993 FILING SEASON STATISTICS

       Cumulative through the week ending 4/17/92 and 4/16/93

                      1992              1993            % Change

Individual Income Tax Returns:

Total Receipts        99,610,000        89,782,000      -9.9
Total Processed       69,769,000        64,733,000      -7.2


Filing Alternatives -- Total Receipts:

Electronic Filing     10,780,000        12,153,000       12.7
1040PC Format          1,260,000         3,618,000      187.1
TeleFile                 126,000           147,000       16.7


Refunds Certified by the Martinsburg Computing Center:

Number                55,716,000        52,107,000       -6.5
Amount of Principal   $54.564 billion   $50.738 billion  -7.0
Average Refund          $979              $974           -0.6

    (NOTE: these amounts should NOT be compared to the "processed"
    numbers above, since those figures reflect Service Center
    processing, which is completed at least a week before refunds
    are certified at the Computing Center)


Taxpayer Service Filing Season Statistics

                   through 4/2/92         through 4/3/93

Toll-free phone
 calls answered       17,483,331              17,516,729

Tele-Tax calls        28,515,255              24,370,675
   Technical tapes     4,254,699               4,266,096
   Refund Info.       24,260,556              20,104,579

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