# Form A-4 — Alabama Form A4: employee’s withholding exemption certificate

- **Canonical URL:** https://formspedia.com/us/alabama-a-4/
- **Country & Language:** United States (`en-US`)
- **Form:** Form A-4
- **Revision:** FORM A4 (REV. 4/2025); withholding booklet revised January 2026
- **Issuing Agency:** Alabama Department of Revenue
- **Tax Area:** Payroll and social security
- **Who Must File:** Every employee paid wages subject to Alabama withholding gives it to the employer; nonresident military spouses who meet the MSRRA conditions use Form A4-MS instead
- **Filing Method:** Signed and given to the employer, who completes Part II and keeps it on file; not sent to ALDOR except copies of claims of eight or more exemptions or doubted claims
- **Filing Deadline:** On or before the date employment begins; a new certificate whenever the number of exemptions increases or decreases (no day count in the statute)
- **Legal Basis / Statute:** Code of Alabama 1975, sections 40-18-73 and 40-29-75; Ala. Admin. Code r. 810-3-73-.01
- **Official Form PDF:** https://www.revenue.alabama.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/A4_0425.pdf

Alabama payroll uses its own exemption certificate, Form A4 (the statute and the Alabama Department of Revenue, ALDOR, write it A-4), and the federal Form W-4 cannot stand in for it. The employee writes a code for the personal exemption (0, S, MS, M or H), the number of dependents and any extra amount to withhold; the employer turns those entries into a table column such as M-2 or S-1. An employee who never hands one in is withheld on at zero exemptions, the entry the form describes as withholding at the highest rate.

### Who gives Form A4 to the employer, and when

Section 40-18-73 of the Code of Alabama requires every employee to give the employer a signed A4 on or before the date employment begins. ALDOR rule 810-3-73-.01 repeats the requirement and adds the reason the W-4 is refused: Alabama and federal exemption values differ. Line 1 of the form says to file it with your employer.

A filed A4 remains in effect until another one replaces it. When the number of exemptions goes up or down, section 40-18-73(g) says the employee shall give the employer a new certificate stating the correct number. The statute sets no count of days for doing so. Subsection (f) covers a change expected at the start of the next tax year: the employee files a certificate for that year, and it cannot change withholding on wages paid in the calendar year it is handed in.

A nonresident whose spouse is an active duty servicemember stationed in or near Alabama uses Form A4-MS instead. That form lists seven statements, among them that the employee is not a servicemember and is domiciled in a state other than Alabama. All seven must be true; otherwise, the A4-MS says, the employee completes Form A4. The employer must get a clear photocopy of the current military spouse ID, Form DD 2058 showing the servicemember's state of legal residence, and a recent Leave and Earnings Statement.

### How to fill out Form A4, line by line

Part I starts with the employee's name, Social Security number and home address. Lines 1 to 3 are alternatives: enter one personal exemption code on one of them. Line 4 takes a number, line 5 a dollar amount, and line 6 belongs to the employer.

| Line | Entry | Personal exemption or effect |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | The figure "0" | No personal exemption; withholding at the highest rate |
| 2 | "S" (single) or "MS" (married filing separately) | $1,500 |
| 3 | "M" (married, claiming yourself and your spouse) or "H" (single with qualifying dependents, head of family) | $3,000 |
| 4 | Number of dependents other than your spouse for whom you will provide more than half of their support during the year | One dependent amount per person in the employer's formula |
| 5 | Additional dollar amount, if any | Deducted each pay period on top of the regular withholding |
| 6 | Left blank by the employee. The employer writes the total, for example M-2 for "M" on line 3 and "2" on line 4 | Selects the column in the withholding tables |

Which code a person may use depends on marital status, and a married couple has to coordinate. ALDOR's booklet gives these combinations:

- A single employee claims "0" or "S". A single employee with dependents who qualifies as head of family may claim "H".

- A married employee may claim "0", "S" or "M". If one spouse claims "M", both personal exemptions are used up and the other spouse must claim "0".

- If a married employee claims "S", the other spouse can claim only their own personal exemption or "0".

- A married employee who will file separately claims "MS", which covers that employee only.

For line 4, a dependent must receive more than half of their support from you for the year and be related to you in one of the ways printed at the bottom of the form: child (legally adopted children included), grandchild, stepchild, son-in-law or daughter-in-law; parent, grandparent, stepparent or parent-in-law; brother, sister, step- or half-sibling, or sibling-in-law; or an uncle, aunt, nephew or niece related by blood. The line itself excludes your spouse.

The employee signs and dates the certificate under penalties of perjury. Part II, marked E in the image, takes the employer's name, employer identification number (EIN) and address.

#### What the codes do to each paycheck

ALDOR's tables print withholding for weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, monthly and quarterly payrolls. With no dependents the columns are 0, S, MS and M; the H column appears only next to one or more dependents, and the tables run to seven dependents. Employers who compute by computer, or whose employee claims more dependents than the tables show, use the booklet's annual formula. In that formula the personal exemption is $1,500 for S or MS and $3,000 for M or H. Each line 4 dependent is worth $1,000 when annualized gross income is $50,000 or less, $500 above $50,000 up to $100,000, and $300 above $100,000.

Take a hypothetical employee paid $2,000 semi-monthly who files an A4 showing "H" and one dependent (H-1). Annual gross income is $48,000. The booklet's formula subtracts a $2,500 standard deduction (the H amount at $35,500 or more), the annualized federal withholding (assume $100 per paycheck, $2,400 a year), the $3,000 personal exemption and $1,000 for the dependent. Tax on the remaining $39,100 at 2%, 4% and 5% comes to $1,915, or $79.79 per paycheck. With no A4 on file, the same pay is figured at "0": no personal exemption, no dependent, $43,100 taxable, $2,115 a year and $88.13 per paycheck.

### What the employer does with a completed A4

The employer completes Part II and keeps the certificate. Rule 810-3-73-.01 treats it as part of the payroll records and says it should be kept in the employee's personnel file; ALDOR's withholding booklet (revised January 2026) says to keep exemption certificates for at least three years.

Two situations send the certificate to ALDOR. The first is a large claim. Under section 40-18-73(h), the employer must give ALDOR a copy of any certificate claiming eight or more exemptions within 60 days of the date employment begins; missing that window carries a "failure to timely file" penalty of $50 per certificate. Part II of the A4 speaks of 8 or more dependent exemptions and tells the employer to contact ALDOR for verification. The second is a claim the employer doubts. The booklet asks for a copy of the A4 and a letter of explanation, mailed to the Withholding Tax Section. Part II of the form gives the contact details:

Alabama Department of Revenue, Withholding Tax Section
P.O. Box 327480
Montgomery, AL 36132-7480
Phone (334) 242-1300, fax (334) 242-0112

If ALDOR finds the employee does not qualify for the exemptions claimed, the employer must withhold at the highest rate until the employee submits a corrected A4.

### No A4, a W-4 instead, or an inflated claim

Section 40-18-73(c) says an employer whose employee has not furnished a signed A4 must withhold using no exemptions, which is column "0". A federal W-4 on file does not change that: subsection (b) says it is not an acceptable filing.

Claiming more than you are entitled to has its own cost. The A4 warns of a $500 penalty under section 40-29-75 for inflating exemptions. That section applies the penalty when the statement lowers the amount withheld and there was no reasonable basis for it when made. The commissioner may waive it in whole or in part if the employee's Alabama income tax for the year is no more than the credits the section lists plus estimated tax payments, which individuals send with [Form 40ES](/us/alabama-40es/). Rule 810-3-73-.01 adds that the $500 penalty also covers a false exemption claim on Form A4-MS, and that a person who does not comply may face the penalties of section 40-2A-11 or criminal prosecution.

### Where to get the official Form A4 PDF

The current English form is [Form A4, Rev. 4/2025](https://www.revenue.alabama.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/A4_0425.pdf), a fillable one-page PDF that states "This form may be reproduced." ALDOR also publishes a Spanish version (Forma A4, also Rev. 4/2025) and prints both the A4 and the A4-MS at the back of the withholding booklet. ALDOR's Withholding Tax page still describes the A4 link as "Revised March 2014", but the file it opens is the 4/2025 revision. Give the completed form to your employer, not to ALDOR.

### Questions about Form A4

#### Do I need to fill out a new A4 every January?

ALDOR's withholding booklet says a new certificate is not required unless the number of dependents or exemptions you claim changes.

#### How soon does a new A4 change my withholding?

A first certificate takes effect at the start of the first payroll period after you complete and submit it. For a replacement, section 40-18-73(e) lets the employer adjust right away or keep the old certificate until January 1 or July 1, whichever falls at least 30 days after you furnish the new one.

#### My spouse claimed "M". What do I write?

"0" on line 1. The booklet says that when one spouse claims "M", both personal exemptions have been claimed and the other spouse must claim zero. You can still ask for an extra amount on line 5.

### Official sources

- Alabama Department of Revenue, [Form A4, Employee's Withholding Tax Exemption Certificate, Rev. 4/2025](https://www.revenue.alabama.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/A4_0425.pdf)

- Alabama Department of Revenue, [Employee's Withholding Exemption Certificate (English), form page](https://www.revenue.alabama.gov/forms/employees-withholding-exemption-certificate-english/)

- Alabama Department of Revenue, [Withholding Tax Tables and Instructions for Employers and Withholding Agents, revised January 2026](https://www.revenue.alabama.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/whbooklet_0126.pdf)

- Alabama Department of Revenue, [Withholding Tax](https://www.revenue.alabama.gov/individual-corporate/withholding-tax-2/)

- Alabama Department of Revenue, [Form A4-MS, Nonresident Military Spouse Withholding Tax Exemption Certificate, Rev. 4/25](https://www.revenue.alabama.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/A4MS_0425.pdf)

- Alabama Department of Revenue, [Forma A4 (Spanish), Rev. 4/2025](https://www.revenue.alabama.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/A4_0425_sp.pdf)

- Alabama Administrative Code, [Rule 810-3-73-.01, Withholding Exemption Certificates](https://admincode.legislature.state.al.us/administrative-code/810-3-73-.01)

- Code of Alabama 1975, [Section 40-18-73, Withholding Certificates](https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/code-of-alabama?section=40-18-73)

- Code of Alabama 1975, [Section 40-29-75, False Information with Respect to Withholding](https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/code-of-alabama?section=40-29-75)

- Code of Alabama 1975, [Section 40-18-19, Exemptions](https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/code-of-alabama?section=40-18-19)