{"id":34865,"date":"2018-02-15T15:02:51","date_gmt":"2018-02-15T21:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/?p=34865"},"modified":"2020-06-05T13:12:46","modified_gmt":"2020-06-05T18:12:46","slug":"tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/irs\/audits-and-tax-notices\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\/","title":{"rendered":"Lock-In Letter"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>IRS Definition<\/h2>\n<p>If the IRS determines that an employee does not have enough withholding, the IRS will notify an employer to increase the amount of withholding tax by issuing a \u201clock-in\u201d letter that specifies the maximum number of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/filing\/personal-tax-planning\/tax-withholding-allowances\/\">withholding allowances<\/a> permitted for the employee.<\/p>\n<h2>More from H&amp;R Block<\/h2>\n<p>If the IRS determines that you are not withholding enough taxes from your pay check and each year you owe a substantial tax balance, the IRS can send a letter to your employer that requires them to withhold taxes at the highest rate of single with 0 exemptions. This is known as a lock-in letter. This letter sets the withholding rate your employer must use and it cannot be changed by filing a new Form W-4. The rate specified in the lock-in letter can only be changed with IRS approval.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/irs\/audits-and-tax-notices\/bill-for-unpaid-taxes\/\">Learn how to address an unpaid tax bill.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IRS Definition If the IRS determines that an employee does not have enough withholding, the IRS will notify an employer to increase the amount of withholding tax by issuing a \u201clock-in\u201d letter that specifies the maximum number of withholding allowances permitted for the employee. More from H&amp;R Block If the IRS determines that you are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":605,"featured_media":27114,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irs","category-audits-and-tax-notices"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<title>Tax Dictionary - Lock-In Letter | H&amp;R Block<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you do not withhold enough taxes from your paycheck, the IRS can send a lock-in letter to your employer. Learn more about lock-in letters from H&amp;R Block.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/irs\/audits-and-tax-notices\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lock-In Letter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you do not withhold enough taxes from your paycheck, the IRS can send a lock-in letter to your employer. Learn more about lock-in letters from H&amp;R Block.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/irs\/audits-and-tax-notices\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"H&amp;R Block\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hrblock\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-02-15T21:02:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-06-05T18:12:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/IRS-notice-825x510.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"825\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"510\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elyce Luegers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@hrblock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@hrblock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elyce Luegers\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resource-center.hrblock.com\\\/irs\\\/audits-and-tax-notices\\\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resource-center.hrblock.com\\\/irs\\\/audits-and-tax-notices\\\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elyce Luegers\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resource-center.hrblock.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/91512e91ae00a37478a4f91b90022449\"},\"headline\":\"Lock-In Letter\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-15T21:02:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-06-05T18:12:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resource-center.hrblock.com\\\/irs\\\/audits-and-tax-notices\\\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":149,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resource-center.hrblock.com\\\/irs\\\/audits-and-tax-notices\\\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resource-center.hrblock.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/IRS-notice-825x510.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"IRS\",\"Audits and tax notices\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resource-center.hrblock.com\\\/irs\\\/audits-and-tax-notices\\\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resource-center.hrblock.com\\\/irs\\\/audits-and-tax-notices\\\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\\\/\",\"name\":\"Tax Dictionary - Lock-In Letter | H&R Block\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resource-center.hrblock.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resource-center.hrblock.com\\\/irs\\\/audits-and-tax-notices\\\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resource-center.hrblock.com\\\/irs\\\/audits-and-tax-notices\\\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resource-center.hrblock.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/IRS-notice-825x510.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-15T21:02:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-06-05T18:12:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resource-center.hrblock.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/91512e91ae00a37478a4f91b90022449\"},\"description\":\"If you do not withhold enough taxes from your paycheck, the IRS can send a lock-in letter to your employer. Learn more about lock-in letters from H&R Block.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resource-center.hrblock.com\\\/irs\\\/audits-and-tax-notices\\\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/resource-center.hrblock.com\\\/irs\\\/audits-and-tax-notices\\\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resource-center.hrblock.com\\\/irs\\\/audits-and-tax-notices\\\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resource-center.hrblock.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/IRS-notice-825x510.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resource-center.hrblock.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/IRS-notice-825x510.jpg\",\"width\":825,\"height\":510},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resource-center.hrblock.com\\\/irs\\\/audits-and-tax-notices\\\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resource-center.hrblock.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lock-In Letter\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resource-center.hrblock.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resource-center.hrblock.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"H&amp;R Block\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resource-center.hrblock.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resource-center.hrblock.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/91512e91ae00a37478a4f91b90022449\",\"name\":\"Elyce Luegers\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f00afad2c139e11049696685997b274ab85ac39af90c8f8bc5497183b023f35c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f00afad2c139e11049696685997b274ab85ac39af90c8f8bc5497183b023f35c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f00afad2c139e11049696685997b274ab85ac39af90c8f8bc5497183b023f35c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elyce Luegers\"}}]}<\/script>","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tax Dictionary - Lock-In Letter | H&R Block","description":"If you do not withhold enough taxes from your paycheck, the IRS can send a lock-in letter to your employer. Learn more about lock-in letters from H&R Block.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/irs\/audits-and-tax-notices\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lock-In Letter","og_description":"If you do not withhold enough taxes from your paycheck, the IRS can send a lock-in letter to your employer. Learn more about lock-in letters from H&R Block.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/irs\/audits-and-tax-notices\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\/","og_site_name":"H&amp;R Block","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hrblock","article_published_time":"2018-02-15T21:02:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-06-05T18:12:46+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/IRS-notice-825x510.jpg","width":825,"height":510,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Elyce Luegers","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@hrblock","twitter_site":"@hrblock","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elyce Luegers","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/irs\/audits-and-tax-notices\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/irs\/audits-and-tax-notices\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\/"},"author":{"name":"Elyce Luegers","@id":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/#\/schema\/person\/91512e91ae00a37478a4f91b90022449"},"headline":"Lock-In Letter","datePublished":"2018-02-15T21:02:51+00:00","dateModified":"2020-06-05T18:12:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/irs\/audits-and-tax-notices\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\/"},"wordCount":149,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/irs\/audits-and-tax-notices\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/IRS-notice-825x510.jpg","articleSection":["IRS","Audits and tax notices"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/irs\/audits-and-tax-notices\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\/","url":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/irs\/audits-and-tax-notices\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\/","name":"Tax Dictionary - Lock-In Letter | H&R Block","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/irs\/audits-and-tax-notices\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/irs\/audits-and-tax-notices\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/IRS-notice-825x510.jpg","datePublished":"2018-02-15T21:02:51+00:00","dateModified":"2020-06-05T18:12:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/#\/schema\/person\/91512e91ae00a37478a4f91b90022449"},"description":"If you do not withhold enough taxes from your paycheck, the IRS can send a lock-in letter to your employer. Learn more about lock-in letters from H&R Block.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/irs\/audits-and-tax-notices\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/irs\/audits-and-tax-notices\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/irs\/audits-and-tax-notices\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/IRS-notice-825x510.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/IRS-notice-825x510.jpg","width":825,"height":510},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/irs\/audits-and-tax-notices\/tax-dictionary-lock-in-letter\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lock-In Letter"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/","name":"H&amp;R Block","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/#\/schema\/person\/91512e91ae00a37478a4f91b90022449","name":"Elyce Luegers","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f00afad2c139e11049696685997b274ab85ac39af90c8f8bc5497183b023f35c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f00afad2c139e11049696685997b274ab85ac39af90c8f8bc5497183b023f35c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f00afad2c139e11049696685997b274ab85ac39af90c8f8bc5497183b023f35c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elyce Luegers"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/605"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}