Overview

This article is intended for active UC San Diego employees who wish to claim exempt status on Federal and/or State tax withholdings.

Critical Concepts

Per the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), to continue exemption from withholding in a new calendar year, you must provide a new Form W-4 or DE-4 claiming exempt status by February 15 of the new calendar year.

In order for active UC San Diego employees to service themselves, an employee MUST be:

A U.S. Citizen, Non-citizen national of the U.S., U.S. lawful permanent resident, a refugee or asylum status, In the U.S. under DACA, or a resident alien for tax purposes with no tax treaty.

Steps to Take

1. Visit UCPath at http://ucpath.universityofcalifornia.edu.
2. Menu Navigation:
   • Employee Actions > Income and Taxes or
   • On the Dashboard Navigation on the Income and Taxes widget
3. For Federal exemption, click Federal Withholding (W-4).
4. For state exemption, click CA State Withholding (DE-4).  
5. In the Claim Exemption section, enter the year for which you want to claim exemption.
6. Select the check box if you meet the conditions for exemption.
7. Click Submit.
   
   

Additional Information

This must be completed before February 15.

If your exemption is not flagged in the system, your record reverts to the default settings.

Please refer to How to Claim Tax Exemption for step-by-step instruction with images. Example uses sample images as seen on a computer. Sample images appear differently on a tablet or smartphone, but the steps remain the same.