# Form DE-W4 — Delaware Form DE-W4: allowances, worksheets and the 2020 federal W-4 rule

- **Canonical URL:** https://formspedia.com/us/delaware-de-w4/
- **Last updated:** 2026-11-06
- **Country & Language:** United States (`en-US`)
- **Form:** Form DE-W4
- **Revision:** Revision 20220304
- **Issuing Agency:** Delaware Division of Revenue
- **Tax Area:** Payroll and social security
- **Who Must File:** Employees whose wages are subject to Delaware income tax withholding
- **Filing Method:** Given to the employer, not sent to the Division of Revenue
- **Filing Deadline:** At the time of employment
- **Legal Basis / Statute:** 30 Del. C. § 1151
- **Official Form PDF:** https://revenuefiles.delaware.gov/2021/DE-W4.pdf

Form DE-W4 tells a Delaware employer how many withholding allowances to use for Delaware income tax and whether to take an extra dollar amount from each paycheck. The Division of Revenue created it after the IRS redesigned the federal Form W-4 for 2020 and dropped withholding allowances. Delaware still gives a personal credit for each exemption, $110 per allowance in the Division's withholding formula, so the state needed its own count. The current PDF is the revision dated March 4, 2022 (printed as "Revision 20220304"), and it has three pages: the certificate itself, a resident worksheet (DE-W4R) and a nonresident worksheet (DE-W4NR).

### Who needs a Delaware W-4, and when a federal W-4 still counts

The answer depends on the date of the federal W-4 your employer already holds. The Division's DE W-4 page says an employer can keep relying on a federal Form W-4 completed before 2020 for Delaware withholding if the employee does not want to change anything. A federal W-4 completed in 2020 or later, on the version without allowances, cannot be accepted for Delaware withholding. So anyone starting a Delaware job today, or anyone who wants to change Delaware withholding, fills in the DE W-4.

Two other Division texts still describe the federal form. The general Withholding Tax FAQs say Delaware accepts the federal Form W-4 to claim personal exemptions, and Section 15 of the Employer's Guide says an employee is entitled to the same number of allowances as for federal withholding, the rule written into 30 Del. C. § 1151(b). Those passages are written around the pre-2020 federal form, and the guide still names the old SD/W-4A worksheet. The DE W-4 page deals with the 2020 redesign directly and is the one that answers which version an employer may accept.

The Employer's Guide tells employers to get a signed certificate from each employee at the time of employment and to make it effective with the first payment of wages. An employee who does not hand one in is withheld on as a single person with no withholding allowances.

Delaware residents paid by an employer in another state are a separate case. Delaware has no reciprocity agreement with any state, and the Division's FAQ says withholding is required only in the state where the work is assigned. If that state's marginal tax rate is lower than Delaware's, the FAQ says the employee may need extra withholding to cover the Delaware liability.

### How to fill out the DE W-4, box by box

The worksheets on pages 2 and 3 produce the number for box 4 and, in some cases, the dollar amount for box 5.

| Box | What goes in it | Where the entry comes from |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | First name and middle initial, last name; the home address, city, state and ZIP code lines below have no number | Your own details |
| 2 | Taxpayer ID | Your identification number; the Employer's Guide tells employers to record the Social Security number exactly as it appears on the card |
| 3 | Marital status: Single or Married | One checkbox |
| 4 | The total number of allowances | Line G of the resident worksheet, or line 10 if you completed Section H; "0" when line 10 is below zero |
| 5 | Additional amount, if any, to withhold from each paycheck | The worksheet calculation for a negative line 10, or an amount you choose |
| Signature and date | Signed under penalties of perjury | The form says it is not valid unless signed |
| 6 | Employer's name and address | Employer |
| 7 | First day of employment | The date the job starts |
| 8 | Employer identification number (EIN) | Employer |

The printed label on box 4 reads "Total number of dependents you can claim on your return", but both worksheets count you and your spouse as well, and the resident worksheet ends with "Report this number of allowances to your employer on Delaware Form W-4." The Employer's Guide examples work the same way: a single employee with 1 allowance gets one $110 exemption credit. A single person whom no one else claims as a dependent already has 1 on line A of the resident worksheet.

### Counting allowances on the resident worksheet (DE-W4R)

Page 2 starts with lines A to F, each a count. Line G adds them up.

- Line A: 1 for yourself, or 2 if you are 60 or older, when no one else claims you as a dependent.

- Line B: the same for your spouse, 1 or 2 at age 60 or older, when no one else claims your spouse.

- Line C: 1 if you qualify for the child and dependent care credit for one child or dependent, 2 if for two or more.

- Line D: the number of dependents other than your spouse that you will claim.

- Line E: 1 if you are 65 or over or blind, 2 if both.

- Line F: 1 if your spouse is 65 or older or blind, 2 if both.

If you will take the standard deduction and have no non-wage income or other deductions to adjust for, the worksheet says to stop there and put the line G figure on the DE W-4.

#### Section H for itemized deductions and non-wage income

Section H is only for people who plan to itemize, claim other deductions or have income besides wages. On married filing separate or combined separate status, line 1 includes only the itemized deductions that can go on your own separate return.

| Line | Entry |
| --- | --- |
| 1 | Estimated itemized deductions for the year: mortgage interest, real estate and other taxes (state income tax excluded) limited to $10,000, charitable gifts, medical expenses above 10% of adjusted gross income, miscellaneous deductions |
| 2 | Delaware standard deduction, printed as $3,250 |
| 3 | Line 1 minus line 2, not below zero |
| 4 | Estimated adjustments to income: alimony paid, IRA contributions, the pension exclusion, the exclusion for certain people over 60 or disabled |
| 5 | Lines 3 and 4 added |
| 6 | Estimated non-wage income |
| 7 | Line 5 minus line 6 |
| 8 | Line 7 divided by $2,000 |
| 9 | The line G figure |
| 10 | Lines 8 and 9 added: the allowances for box 4 |

A made-up example: a single resident under 60 has line G of 1, expects $11,250 of itemized deductions and $4,000 of interest income, with no adjustments. Line 3 is $8,000, line 7 is $4,000, line 8 is 2, and line 10 is 3. Box 4 gets 3.

#### When line 10 comes out below zero

A negative line 10 means non-wage income outweighs the deductions, and the worksheet's special instructions turn it into extra withholding. Multiply the line 10 figure by $110 and divide by the number of pay periods in the year. Then write "0" in box 4 and the result in box 5. With line 10 at -1 and pay every two weeks (26 pay periods), that is $110 divided by 26, or $4.23 extra per paycheck.

### Nonresidents and the DE-W4NR worksheet

A nonresident's Delaware tax is figured as if the person were a resident and then multiplied by the share of income that comes from Delaware. Section 16 of the Employer's Guide describes the calculation, and page 3 of the PDF lays it out in two columns: Column A for total amounts and Column B for the Delaware-source part.

- Lines A to D count allowances: 1 or 2 for yourself, the same for your spouse, dependents other than your spouse, and the total. This worksheet has no lines for the dependent care credit, age 65 or blindness.

- Lines 1 to 5 run in both columns: wages, non-wage income net of losses, total income, federal adjustments (4a), Delaware adjustments (4b), their total (4c) and adjusted gross income.

- Line 6 is the proration decimal, line 5 Column B divided by line 5 Column A.

- Lines 7 to 13 work on total figures: the higher of the standard or itemized deduction, estimated taxable income, gross tax from the rate table, personal credits at $110 times line D, net liability, and that liability multiplied by the proration decimal.

- Line 14 is the number of pay periods, which the form says to get from your employer; line 15 divides line 13 by it to give withholding per pay period.

The rate table printed on page 3 has a mistake in the $25,000 to $60,000 band. It shows a base of $1,041.00, while the Employer's Guide table effective January 1, 2025 shows $1,001.00. The guide figure is the one that follows from the rates: $741.00 plus 5.2% of the $5,000 between $20,000 and $25,000 is $1,001.00, and $1,001.00 plus 5.55% of $35,000 gives the $2,943.50 that both tables print for the next band. On estimated taxable income of $30,000, line 9 is $1,278.50 with the guide's base and $1,318.50 with the printed one.

Two points on this page are not settled by any Division source we found. The worksheet ends with a dollar amount per pay period, but neither the form nor the Employer's Guide says which box of the DE W-4 that amount belongs in. Lines 2, 4a, 4b, 7 and 14 say "See Instructions", and no instructions for the DE-W4NR are printed with the form or listed beside it on the Division's forms page. The DE W-4 page gives (302) 577-8779 for questions.

### What the employer does with a DE W-4

The employer withholds from each payment according to the certificate and the withholding tables or another formula the Director of the Division of Revenue has approved. The form prints no Division mailing address, and nothing on it asks the employee to send it to the state.

Section 15 of the Employer's Guide names two cases in which the employer sends the Division a copy of an employee's withholding certificate within 5 working days. The guide still calls the certificate a federal Form W-4 or W-4A.

- The certificate claims 14 or more allowances for Delaware purposes.

- The certificate claims exemption from Delaware withholding and the employer expects the employee's wages to exceed $168.50 per week.

Copies go to:

Assistant Director, Office of Personal Income Taxes
Division of Revenue
P.O. Box 2044
Wilmington, DE 19899-2044

Until the Division responds, the employer keeps withholding on the certificate as filed. If the Division finds a materially incorrect statement, or cannot confirm the certificate after asking the employee, it notifies the employer. The certificate is then defective: the employer withholds as for a single person with no allowances, tells the employee, and asks for a new certificate.

### Exemption from Delaware withholding

The DE W-4 has no box for claiming exemption. The exemption certificate listed with the withholding forms on the Division's Business Tax Forms page is Form WTH-EXM (formerly W-4DE), for an employee whose spouse is a military servicemember, under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act as amended by the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act. The employee answers four questions, and all four answers must be yes: the spouse is a servicemember, the spouse's orders assign them to a military location near Delaware, the employee is not a servicemember, and the employee's domicile is a state other than Delaware.

The WTH-EXM instructions (revised September 24, 2025) put duties on the employer too. The employee shows the original of the spouse's latest Leave and Earning Statement, whose assignment location must be in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey or Maryland, and the original of a current military ID that is not dated more than four years before it is shown. The employer keeps copies of both with the certificate, and a personnel representative signs the employer section at the bottom of the form.

### Where to get the official DE W-4 PDF

The Division of Revenue lists the form on its Business Tax Forms page as "DE-W4 – Delaware W4 Withholding Allowance Cert & Computation Worksheet – Resident / Non-Resident". The file sits in a 2021 folder, but the pages print "Revision 20220304". It is fillable and has Print and Reset buttons on page 1. Complete page 1, sign it and give it to your employer.

### Official sources

- Delaware Division of Revenue, [Form DE-W4, Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate, with DE-W4R and DE-W4NR worksheets, Revision 20220304](https://revenuefiles.delaware.gov/2021/DE-W4.pdf)

- Delaware Division of Revenue, [Delaware W-4 Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate](https://revenue.delaware.gov/frequently-asked-questions/delaware-w-4-employees-withholding-allowance-certificate/)

- Delaware Division of Revenue, [Employer's Guide (Withholding Regulations and Employer's Duties)](https://revenue.delaware.gov/employers-guide-withholding-regulations-employers-duties/)

- Delaware Division of Revenue, [Withholding Tax FAQs](https://revenue.delaware.gov/frequently-asked-questions/withholding-tax-faqs/)

- Delaware Division of Revenue, [Business Tax Forms 2025-2026](https://revenue.delaware.gov/business-tax-forms/)

- Delaware Division of Revenue, [Form WTH-EXM, Annual Withholding Tax Exemption Certification for Military Spouse, Revision 20250804](https://revenuefiles.delaware.gov/2025/BusinessTaxForms_Instructions/WTH-EXM_2025-01_PaperInteractive.pdf)

- Delaware Division of Revenue, [Form WTH-EXM instructions, revised 09/24/25](https://revenuefiles.delaware.gov/2025/BusinessTaxForms_Instructions/WTH-EXM_2025-01_Instructions.pdf)

- Delaware Code, [Title 30, Chapter 11, Subchapter VII, Withholding of Tax (§ 1151)](https://delcode.delaware.gov/title30/c011/sc07/index.html)