Withholding Help and General Information

For assistance with West Virginia Reports, registration, collection of taxes, and general information please contact the West Virginia Tax Division, Taxpayer Services Division at (304) 558-3333 or toll-free 1-800-WVA-TAXS (1-800-982-8297)

West Virginia Accelerated Payment required: The accelerated withholding payment is due by June 23 for taxpayers whose average monthly payment of withholding tax for the previous calendar year (or portion of a year if not in business for the entire year) is $100,000. The accelerated payment is the tax attributed to the first 15 days of June. The amount of the accelerated payment may be the actual amount due or ½ of the May liability. The remainder of the June liability is due by July 15th.

• Questions and Answers

How to Register

To register with the West Virginia Tax Division, please refer to one of the following documents:

• Information and Instructions for Business Registration
• Registration Forms

Upon receipt of your Application for Registration Certificate, the information will be reviewed and an account will be set up for any taxes that are applicable to your type of business. You will receive your West Virginia Business Registration Certificate which will include your West Virginia Tax Identification Number. Tax reporting forms are computer generated and will be mailed to you prior to their due dates.

To apply for Electronic Funds Transfer, please apply online here or by paper using the WV/EFT-5 Electronic Funds Transfer Application.

General Information - Employer's Withholding

• IT-100.1.A Employer's Withholding Notice

Withholding - Personal Income Tax: Every employer making payment of any wage or salary subject to the West Virginia personal income tax is required to deduct and withhold the tax from such wages or salaries and remit the tax withheld to the Tax Division. Employers are required to remit the withheld tax on or before the 15th day of the succeeding month. Quarterly returns are due on or before the last day of the month following the end of the quarter.

Any employer with an average monthly withholding payment for the previous calendar year of $100,000 or more must remit the tax attributable to the first fifteen days of June on or before June 23rd.

Any employer whose tax liability exceeds $50,000 during the previous calendar year is required to make all payments by Electronic Funds Transfer.

Employers who withhold less than $600 annually or employ certain domestic and household employees will continue to file the annual return and pay the withheld amount annually, and are not required to file a quarterly return. For these employers only, the due-date for the annual return is January 31 of the succeeding year for which the withholdings are deducted and withheld. Employers who have 25 employees or more are required to file and pay electronically.

Employers are required to furnish each employee a Withholding Tax Statement (Form W-2 or an approved substitute) on or before January 31st of the following year. A copy of each employee's W-2 is to be submitted to the Tax Division accompanied by form WV/IT-103 Year End Reconciliation no later than January 31 (Personal Income Tax, WV Code §11-21).

Periods beginning after December 31, 2017, any employer that uses a payroll service or is required to file a withholding return for 25 or more employees shall file the returns electronically. Failure to do so can result in a penalty of $25 per employee for whom the return was not filed electronically. Those filing for 24 or less are encouraged to file electronically using MyTaxes.

Compensation Subject to Withholding

Compensation which is subject to withholding includes wages, commissions, fees, salaries, bonuses, vacation allowances, back pay, tips and retroactive wage increases. Wages also include any other kind of remuneration for or compensation attributable to services performed by an employee for his employer. Compensation subject to Federal withholding is subject to West Virginia withholding.

Compensation paid to residents of West Virginia for personal services is subject to withholding, whether the services were rendered within or without West Virginia.

Employer payments of sick pay are also subject to withholding tax. Employees may request that State Income Tax be withheld from any third party sick pay.

Amount of Tax to be Withheld

The amount of tax to be withheld is to be determined on the basis of the employee’s withholding exemption certificate and the rates set forth herein.

To determine the amount of tax to be withheld, the employer may use IT-100.2.A (Percentage Method of Withholding) or IT-100.2.B (Table Method of Withholding).

Method I (Tables): Tables provided show West Virginia income tax to be withheld on the basis of weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, and monthly payroll periods. Each table shows withholding amounts for persons claiming 0 or more exemptions. Select the table for the payroll period used. The amount of tax can be readily determined by reading down a column of wage brackets, and then across to the column headed by the number of withholding exemptions claimed by the employee. The withholding tables are based on two-earner/two-job income. The tables are computed at a higher rate to help in preventing under-withholding for married employees filing a joint personal income tax return and for those employees earning wages from more than one job.

Method II (Percentage Method): Percentage tables are provided for weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, monthly, annual and daily payroll periods. Determine the amount of wages exempt from withholding using the exemption table. After the amount of taxable wages has been established, select the percentage table for the payroll period used and apply the appropriate rate, rounding the result to the nearest whole dollar. Optional Two Earner Percentage Method tables are included.

To Calculate Supplemental Withholding

To calculate supplemental withholding, please follow these calculations:

(standard pay per period) times (number of pay periods) equals (standard pay)

Supplemental payments would then be the excess of that using the annual table as published by the Tax Division.

Example: A $5,000 bonus on an employee:

($2,000 bi-weekly) times (26) equals ($52,000)

As a result, the bonus would be withheld at 5.12% on the two-earner table or 4.72% on the one-earner table.

• IT-100.2.A Tables for Percentage Method of Withholding

Penalties - Interest and Additions to Tax

Employers must remit the entire amount of tax withheld on or before the due date of the return. If the entire amount due is not remitted on or before the due date, interest must be paid on the amount underpaid from the due date to the date paid. Interest is always due, without exception, on any underpayment of tax. Interest is imposed at an adjusted rate established by the Tax Commissioner. The annual rate will never be less than eight percent (8%). The interest rate will be determined and in effect for periods of six months. Contact the Taxpayer Services Division for the interest rate currently in effect.

Additions to tax is imposed for failure to file a return on or before the due date. On any amount of tax shown to be due on the return, the additions to tax for late filing is five percent (5%) per month or any part of a month not to exceed twenty-five percent (25%).

Additions to tax is imposed for failure to pay all tax shown to be due on a return on or before the due date (determined without regard to an extension of time to file).The additions to tax for late payment is imposed at the rate of one half of one percent (0.5%) per month or part of a month not to exceed twenty-five percent (25%).

When both the five percent (5%) additions to tax for late filing and the one half of one percent (0.5%)additions to tax for late payment are imposed, the maximum monthly percent is five percent (5%) not to exceed fifty percent (50%) of the tax due.

Any employer, officer, or employee who willfully fails or refuses to make a return or statement or pay over withholding taxes for which he/she is accountable, shall in addition to other penalties provided by law, be liable for a money penalty equal to the total amount evaded, or not collected, or not accounted for and paid over.