To fill out Ohio Form IT 4, complete Section I with your name, Social Security number, address, and school district; use Section II to count your personal, spouse, and dependent exemptions and to request any extra withholding; use Section III only if your wages are exempt from Ohio tax; then sign Section IV and give the form to your employer’s payroll department. If you never turn one in, your employer withholds Ohio tax as though you claimed zero exemptions and withholds nothing for school district tax, which can produce a large bill at filing time.1Ohio Department of Taxation. Employee’s Withholding Exemption Certificate IT 4
Download the current form from the Ohio Department of Taxation before you start. The IT 4 has four sections, and most employees only need to complete Sections I, II, and IV.
Section I: Personal and School District Information
Enter your full legal name, Social Security number, and home address. Ohio law requires every employer doing business in the state to withhold income tax from employee wages, and this information ties your withholding to your state tax account.2Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 5747 – Section 5747.06
Section I also asks for your school district name and its four-digit code. Many Ohio districts levy their own income tax, and your employer needs the code to withhold the right amount.3Ohio Department of Taxation. School District Income Tax Look up your district using The Finder on the Department of Taxation website.4Ohio Department of Taxation. Lookup By Zip Code – School District Income Tax Use your home address, not your work address, because the tax follows where you live.
Ohio districts use one of two methods. A traditional district taxes your modified adjusted gross income, which can include retirement income; an earned income district taxes only wages and net self-employment earnings.3Ohio Department of Taxation. School District Income Tax The Finder will tell you which one applies. If you leave the school district fields blank while living in a taxing district, your employer withholds nothing for the district and you will owe the full amount at filing.1Ohio Department of Taxation. Employee’s Withholding Exemption Certificate IT 4
Section II: Exemptions and Extra Withholding
Section II is where you tell your employer how many exemptions to apply. Each exemption reduces the wages treated as taxable and lowers the tax pulled from each paycheck.
- Line 1 (personal exemption). Enter 1 for yourself. Enter 0 if someone else claims you as a dependent on their Ohio return.1Ohio Department of Taxation. Employee’s Withholding Exemption Certificate IT 4
- Line 2 (spouse exemption). Enter 1 if you are married and plan to file a joint Ohio return. Enter 0 if you are single or if your spouse files separately.1Ohio Department of Taxation. Employee’s Withholding Exemption Certificate IT 4
- Line 3 (dependents). Enter the number of dependents you expect to claim on your Ohio return.
- Line 4 (total). Add Lines 1, 2, and 3. This is the figure payroll uses.1Ohio Department of Taxation. Employee’s Withholding Exemption Certificate IT 4
Ohio defines dependents the same way the federal tax code does.5Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 5747 – Section 5747.01 For taxable years beginning in 2026 and later, a dependent also has to be one you actually claim (or are permitted to claim) on your federal return. The two categories are qualifying children (generally your kids under 19, or under 24 if full-time students) and qualifying relatives, who must live with you or be a close family member and for whom you provide more than half of their support.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 152 – Dependent Defined
Do not inflate the count. If you claim more exemptions than you’re actually entitled to, or wrongly claim to be exempt in Section III, your employer is required to override the form and withhold at the zero-exemption rate, and you may still owe tax plus interest at filing.7Ohio Department of Taxation. Employer Withholding – Forms
Line 5: Extra Withholding
Line 5 lets you ask for an additional flat dollar amount to be withheld from every paycheck, on top of what your exemption count already produces.1Ohio Department of Taxation. Employee’s Withholding Exemption Certificate IT 4 This is useful if you have a second job, freelance income, or investment income that isn’t subject to withholding, or if you simply want a larger refund. There is no set minimum or maximum. The amount continues until you file a new IT 4 changing it.
Section III: When Your Wages Are Exempt From Ohio Tax
Most employees skip Section III. Complete it only if your income is excluded or exempt from Ohio income tax. The two common situations are reciprocity and certain excluded types of work.
Ohio has reciprocal tax agreements with Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.8Ohio Department of Taxation. Employer Withholding – Reciprocity If you live in one of those states and commute to a job in Ohio, Ohio doesn’t tax those wages. You complete Section III, and your employer also keeps a signed Ohio Form IT 4NR (Statement of Residency) on file.9Ohio Department of Taxation. Ohio Form IT 4NR Statement of Residency You then pay tax to your home state instead. If you later move to Ohio or to a non-reciprocal state, notify your employer within 10 days and submit a new IT 4.
Section III also covers other situations where Ohio tax doesn’t apply, such as a military spouse who lives in Ohio solely because of a service member’s orders while keeping legal residence elsewhere. Ohio law separately excludes certain kinds of pay from withholding, including agricultural labor, domestic service in a private home, and services performed for a foreign government or international organization.2Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 5747 – Section 5747.06
Section IV: Sign and Submit
Sign and date the bottom of the form. Your signature is a legal declaration that everything above it is true, and false information can bring penalties, so check your exemption count and school district code first.
Turn the form in to your employer’s payroll or human resources department. Do not mail it to the Ohio Department of Taxation. Submit it on or before your first day so withholding is right from your first paycheck.1Ohio Department of Taxation. Employee’s Withholding Exemption Certificate IT 4 Keep a copy so you can compare your pay stub deductions against what you claimed; if the numbers don’t line up, ask payroll to fix it.
When to File a New IT 4
You need to submit a new IT 4 whenever your situation changes. The common triggers:
- Marriage or divorce, which changes the spouse exemption on Line 2.
- Birth or adoption of a child, which raises the dependent count on Line 3.
- A dependent aging out or becoming self-supporting, which lowers Line 3.
- Moving, which may change your school district and its withholding.
- Moving to or from a reciprocity state, which affects Section III.
The form’s instructions direct you to file an updated IT 4 immediately when any of these happen, particularly a move to a new school district.1Ohio Department of Taxation. Employee’s Withholding Exemption Certificate IT 4 Waiting until year-end can leave you months of wrong withholding to make up for, in either direction.