Nebraska’s Form W-4N is the state withholding certificate you give your employer so the right amount of Nebraska income tax comes out of each paycheck. Unlike the current federal W-4, it still runs on allowances: you count them on a short worksheet, write the total on Line 1, add any extra dollar amount you want withheld on Line 2, sign, and hand it in. For paychecks issued in 2026, each allowance shields $2,440 of annual wages from withholding.
Any employee who filled out a federal W-4 on or after January 1, 2020 also has to file a W-4N. The federal form no longer collects the allowance information Nebraska needs, so your employer cannot calculate state withholding from the federal form alone. Your employer or the Nebraska Department of Revenue supplies the form; you complete it and return it to your employer, who keeps it on file.
Count Your Allowances on the Worksheet
The back of the W-4N holds a short worksheet, lines 4a through 4f. Work through it first, because the total feeds Line 1 on the front.
- Line 4a: enter “1” for yourself, as long as no one else can claim you as a dependent.
- Line 4b: enter “1” if you are single with one job, married with one job and a non-working spouse, or if your second job or your spouse’s job pays $1,500 or less for the year.
- Line 4c: enter “1” for your spouse. If you both work, or you hold more than one job, entering “0” here helps prevent under-withholding.
- Line 4d: enter the number of children and other dependents you will claim on your Nebraska return who also qualify for the child or dependent tax credit on your federal return.
- Line 4e: enter “1” if you will file as head of household.
- Line 4f: add lines 4a through 4e. That total goes on Line 1 of the form.
More allowances mean less tax withheld per paycheck; fewer allowances mean more. If you expect meaningful non-wage income such as investment gains or rental income, claiming fewer allowances lets your paycheck withholding cover that extra liability instead of leaving you a balance due in April.
Fill Out the Front of the Form
The front collects your identifying information and three numbered lines that actually control the withholding.
Enter your full name, Social Security number, home address, and filing status. Only two boxes are offered: Single or Married. Check Single if you file as head of household, married filing separately, or your spouse is a nonresident alien. Check Married only if you file a joint return or qualify as a surviving spouse.
- Line 1: total allowances from Line 4f of the worksheet.
- Line 2: any extra dollar amount you want withheld from each paycheck on top of the allowance-based calculation. Useful if you have side income, owe estimated tax, or simply want a larger refund.
- Line 3: leave blank unless you qualify for a full exemption from withholding. If you qualify, write “Exempt” and skip Lines 1 and 2.
Sign and date the form. An unsigned W-4N is invalid, and your employer will treat it as though you never turned one in.
When You Can Claim Exempt
You can claim exemption from Nebraska withholding only if both of these were and will be true: last year you had no Nebraska income tax liability and got back everything that was withheld, and you expect the same result this year. To claim it, write “Exempt” on Line 3, leave Lines 1 and 2 blank, and sign.
One disqualifier catches many students and part-time workers: if someone else can claim you as a dependent, and your total income tops $1,100 with more than $350 of that coming from interest, dividends, or other unearned income, you cannot claim exempt even if the two conditions above are met.
The exempt status runs one calendar year. To keep it, give your employer a new W-4N by February 15 each year. Miss that date and your employer must switch to withholding based on whatever prior form is on file, or at the default single-with-zero-allowances rate if nothing valid exists.
Military Spouses and Nonresidents Use a Different Form
If you are the spouse of an active-duty servicemember stationed in Nebraska and you are a legal resident of another state, your wages earned here may not be subject to Nebraska income tax. Two federal statutes make that possible: the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act, for spouses who share the servicemember’s state of legal residence, and the Veterans Benefits and Transition Act, which lets you elect to use the servicemember’s state of residence even if it is not yours.
You do not claim this on the W-4N. Instead, file Nebraska Form 9N, the Employee Certificate for Allocation of Withholding Tax, with your employer, and file a new one each year. Your employer may ask for supporting documents such as a military dependent ID and the servicemember’s leave and earnings statement showing state of legal residence.
Nonresidents who split their work between Nebraska and other states also use Form 9N to tell their employer what share of their wages is Nebraska-sourced; the employer then withholds only on that share. Nebraska has no reciprocal agreement with any neighboring state, so if you live in Iowa or Kansas and commute to a Nebraska job, your employer still withholds Nebraska tax on those wages.
When to Submit a New W-4N
You can file a new W-4N any time you want to raise your allowances or change your Line 2 extra-withholding amount. Decreases are different: if your allowances drop because of a divorce, a dependent aging out, or a similar change, you have ten days to submit an updated form. Your employer should apply the new withholding by the next available payroll cycle.
Life events that usually justify a new form include marriage or divorce, gaining or losing a dependent, starting a second job, or a spouse starting or stopping work. Even without a life change, it is worth checking the form each year when you file your return. If you owed more than a few hundred dollars or got a large refund, adjusting Line 1 or Line 2 will bring next year closer to breaking even.
What Happens if You Never File One
Complete a federal W-4 on or after January 1, 2020 without giving your employer a W-4N, and your employer must withhold as though you are single with zero allowances. That is the highest withholding setting the tables produce, and it applies no matter your actual filing status or how many dependents you have.
Employees whose federal W-4 has been on file since before 2020 and never changed are not automatically pushed into the default. But the next time you submit a new federal W-4, your employer needs a Nebraska W-4N from you as well. Turning it in promptly is the simplest way to avoid the single-zero default.
Penalties for Overstating Allowances
Padding your allowance count to shrink your withholding is not treated as a paperwork slip. Intentionally overstating allowances or otherwise inflating information on the W-4N to evade Nebraska income tax is a Class II misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.
On the civil side, the Tax Commissioner can add a fraud penalty equal to 50% of any resulting tax deficiency. And if your claimed allowances would cause withholding to fall below 1.5% of your gross wages minus qualified deductions, your employer is required to ask you for documentation, such as birth certificates or Social Security records for the dependents you claimed.
Nonresidents face a parallel rule on Form 9N allocations. If false information on that form causes withholding to come in below 75% of your actual Nebraska tax on those wages, the Tax Commissioner can impose penalties of up to $1,000, and an employer who knowingly uses information it knows to be false faces the same penalty.