Even the Internal Revenue Service sometimes admits mistakes. Bowing to public indignation over the maddeningly complex W-4 form it introduced in November, the IRS last week unveiled a simpler version. The bewildering four pages of questions and instructions in the original have been reduced to two. Further minor changes are being discussed with the Office of Management and Budget, and the new form, called W-4A, is expected to be made final this week. Said IRS Commissioner Lawrence Gibbs: "We misjudged the willingness and capacity of many taxpayers to handle the additional complexity."
The W-4, which employers use to determine how much...