Online withholding forms for automated employee onboarding
Symmetry Payroll Forms (SPF) automates employee onboarding and new-hire tax withholding forms. SPF includes over 130 compliant online tax withholding forms for federal, state, and local governments, including resident, nonresident, military spouse, and more. All forms are 100% electronic, regulatory compliant, and auditable for all tax jurisdictions. Available for both U.S. and Canada.
Automated online withholding forms & tax forms make payroll easier
Symmetry Payroll Forms (SPF) simplifies tax compliance by automatically determining local employee tax rates such as PSD codes, EIT rates, and school districts, and integrating them directy into the appropriate forms. With over 130 automated and compliant online withholding forms from federal, state, and local governments, SPF ensures seamless employee tax withholding process.
Compliant Withholding Forms
Follows audit guidelines.
Rulings requested and provided from all 50 states and U.S. territories.
Conforms to IRS Publication 15A, Regulation section 31.3402(f)(5)-1.
No storage of personal data such as names, social security numbers or addresses.
The hosted web application option has HTTPS and SAML security features.
Native security/authentication.
How Symmetry Payroll Forms Works
Get structured, consistent payroll data
1
Step 1
Employee enters data manually or employee data is loaded via JSON from internal systems.
Step 2
Users have a choice between Guided Mode or Choose Mode. This decision can be made at the company level.
2
3
Step 3
SPF identifies correct forms employees need to fill out based on location and individual circumstances.
Step 4
Employee is walked through necessary forms needed — providing jurat statements to ensure compliance.
4
5
Step 5
Completed payroll forms are sent back to HR/Payroll department.
Guided vs. Let Me Choose
Simplify your employee exemption certificate procedure with the option of two paperless processes.
Guided employee onboarding interface
Ideal for new hires — employee onboarding — employees are coached through an automated process on what information to provide and where to provide it.
Ensures forms submitted by an employee are correct and complete.
Guides employees to the necessary forms based on their responses to questions generated from their home and work addresses in the “Guided” process.
Employees get a simple and smooth process while employers get all the information they need to set up withholding accurately.
Let Me Choose interface
Ideal for companies and employees who know the exact forms they need — gives employees the ability to select forms at will.
Displays all relevant forms based on the employee’s work and home address.
Allows employees to select the withholding forms they would like to complete.
Field validation ensures employees complete forms accurately.
Clients
Who will love it?
Payroll managers overwhelmed by paper W‑4s and inaccurate withholding.
HCM companies looking to enhance their withholding form and payroll offerings.
Product managers and software developers building out onboarding products.
"We have been providing onboarding to the federal government for the past 12 years and our biggest pain point, by far, was maintaining the W-4 tax forms. With Symmetry Software’s product, we no longer have that problem!"
Rob Hankey, Founder and CEO at Intelliworx
"Symmetry has allowed us to simplify the hiring experience with the Symmetry Payroll Forms API. We have seen great feedback and results."
Julia Sena, Sr. Product Manager at Paradox
Over 33 million online withholding forms processed each year.
Build your own user interface and employee experience and consume the Symmetry Payroll Forms API. Ideal for custom branding and maintaining your application’s look and feel.
Pass the employee and employer address information to the SPF API via JSON, and the API takes care of determining flows, forms, and tax parameters.
Capture and store the form answers before passing the information to the SPF API, which returns the completed Base64 encoded PDF and relevant tax parameters.
Print, email, or save the completed PDF as you choose and store the tax parameters in your payroll system or application.
Symmetry Payroll Forms offers flexibility with two implementation options: an easy-to-use API or a customizable Web Application.
Both versions provide the same compliant forms product. The difference lies in deployment, testing, and customization. The Web Application allows you to receive transactions via postback, email them, or print them out. The API integrates into your system, fitting seamlessly with your existing processes.
Feature
API recommended
Web Application
Deployment
Build your own user interface experience into your application with the Payroll API.
Symmetry Payroll Forms embeds on your website or stands alone on an independent website.
Customization
Your team builds custom user flows within your application with the easy-to-use API.
Customize the application to fit your brand.
Updates
Symmetry Payroll Forms updates are automatically applied with no action on your part.
Regulatory compliance
Meets withholding audit guidelines at the federal, state, and local level. Conforms to IRS Publication 15A, Regulation Section 31.3402(f)(5)-1.
Technical specifications
Returns all tax parameters via JSON to input into your payroll system. Includes PDF forms encoded in base64.
SPF considers nexus and reciprocity when determining what forms to present. The multi‑state library has all state‑to‑state reciprocity agreements built in as well as rules relating to which forms are required based on the employee’s settings and the company’s nexus setting.
The Symmetry Location Service pre‑populates all local tax settings such as school districts and PSD codes.
1Resident state
Determine the resident state.
2Nonresident state
Determine the nonresident state.
3Reciprocal agreement
Is there a reciprocal agreement between the res. and nonres. state?
4Nexus
Does nexus exist in the resident state?
FAQ
Contact usContact us if you don't find your question answered here about Symmetry Payroll Forms.
What are online withholding forms?
Online withholding forms are electronic federal, state, and local W‑4s. Also known as employee exemption certificates, these forms tell employers how much money to withhold from an employee’s paycheck.
What is an Electronic Withholding Certificate?
An Electronic Withholding Certificate is simply an electronic version of the paper forms traditionally used when someone is hired or makes a change to their withholding.
What forms does Symmetry Payroll Forms have?
With over 130 compliant forms, Symmetry Payroll Forms includes all forms involving employee tax withholding that are issued by federal, state, and local governments. This includes resident, non‑resident, military spouse, and more.
What is a jurat statement?
A jurat statement is a legal clause that when signed affirms that the data presented on the forms is truthful. SPF includes jurat statements for each form that requires them, ensuring compliance for SPF users.
Do I have to keep hard copies of each form?
IRS guidance states that forms generated by an electronic process are the same as paper forms. Thus, you do not need to keep paper copies of forms. If you need to print a paper version for any reason, you can do so within SPF.
What happens when a withholding form changes?
The benefit of working with Symmetry is that our Payroll Tax Insights and Support team maintains all the state, federal, and local forms. This means when the states, cities, or jurisdictions update, we update the online withholding forms in SPF.
How secure is Symmetry Payroll Forms?
The SPF API and Web Application are transaction-based applications that do not store employee data. Application communications are also encrypted to protect the data being transmitted.
What is SAML?
SAML stands for Security Assertion Markup Language. It is used to authenticate messages in SPF Hosted for additional security.
How can I take full advantage of my partnership with Symmetry?
Symmetry Select is designed to provide Symmetry Tax Engine clients with a dedicated Symmetry Relationship Manager as a single point of contact for oversight of key client strategic initiatives. With Symmetry Select, clients will have access to a dedicated team of experts to answer your questions and provide helpful insights, as well as access to key Symmetry resources and tools. Learn more about Symmetry Select.
