IRS Publication 15 for 2009 contains the updated Federal Withholding rate tables as well as FICA limits for 2009. The guide is also an extremely helpful reference that can (and should) be used as a reference for the tax status of many different types of deductions such as 401k, cafeteria plans, flexible spending.

UPDATE 2-26-09: New IRS 2009 payroll tax tables have been released.

UPDATE 12-24-09: New IRS 2010 payroll tax withholding and rate tables have been released.

During my 10 years in the CPA world I used this as my guide during the hectic year end closing time when clients would ask about the new tax rates or whether a new deduction was taxable for federal purposes.

This guide is free and available from the IRS here.

I’ve included a viewable copy below (Beware – there may be changes from the time that I post this article and the time you are reading – so for best results always download the official copy from the IRS site). I take care to attempt to keep all information current but tax law changes frequently so please consult your tax advisor prior to making any tax table changes or updates.

Users who are not on a current version of Sage MAS 90 or 200 accounting software (and therefore don’t have access to the tax table update issued by Sage) can use the annual limit table in Publication 15 to maintain their own Federal tables.

Be advised that certain older versions of Sage MAS 90 do not support FICA maximum wages greater than 5 digits (xx,xxx) and an update is required in order to enter in the FICA limit for 2009 which is 6 digits – xxx,xxx.

Tip: Always manually calculate the taxes for the first payroll run of the year. This guards against the risk that someone mis-keyed the new tax rates into your software. Pay especially close attention to how a deduction code is treated (before tax / after tax) because it is often nearly impossible to change these codes after you’ve done your first payroll run of the new year.

Tip: Before you close payroll for the year in any accounting software – make a backup.

IRS Publication 15 – 2009