The Internal Revenue Service released Thursday the updated 2018withholding tables reflecting enactment of the new tax law, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, and TreasurySecretary Steve Mnuchin stated that nine out of 10 taxpayers willsee a boost in their take-home pay within the coming weeks.

“That comes on top of all the bonuses, wage increases and expanded benefits thatso many businesses have already provided American workers as aresult of tax reform,” Brady said.

Mnuchin encouraged employers to implement the new income tax withholding tables “expeditiously,” doing so nolater than Feb. 15.

Workers, he said, will see changes in their February paychecksonce employers adopt the new guidance.

“With this guidance, most American workers will begin to seebigger paychecks. We estimate that 90 percent of wage earners willexperience an increase in their take-home pay,” Mnuchin said.

The withholding tables are designed to work with the Forms W-4that workers have already filed with their employers, Treasurystates, which “will minimize burden on taxpayers andemployers.”

The new tables reflect the increase in the standard deduction,repeal of personal exemptions and changes in tax rates and bracketsunder the new tax law.

For people with simpler tax situations, the new tables aredesigned to produce the correct amount of tax withholding, the IRSsaid. "The revisions are also aimed at avoiding over- andunder-withholding of tax as much as possible."

IRS updating withholding tax calculator

The IRS is also revising the withholding tax calculator onIRS.gov to help individuals determine their withholdings. Theupdated calulator should be up by the end of February,

Taxpayers, the IRS said, "are encouraged to use the calculatorto adjust their withholding once it is released."

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Also in the works is revising the Form W-4. "Form W-4 and therevised calculator will reflect additional changes in the new law,such as changes in available itemized deductions, increases in thechild tax credit, the new dependent credit and repeal of dependentexemptions," the IRS said.

"The calculator and new Form W-4 can be used by employees whowish to update their withholding in response to the new law orchanges in their personal circumstances in 2018, and by workersstarting a new job," according to the IRS.

Until a new Form W-4 is issued, IRS counseled employees andemployers to continue to use the 2017 Form W-4.

For Social Security, the tax rate is 6.2 percent each for theemployee and employer, unchanged from 2017. The Social Securitywage base limit is $128,400. The Medicare tax rate is 1.45 percenteach for the employee and employer, unchanged from 2017.

But Democrats argue that new tables could actually enforce“underwithholding,” resulting in Americans getting hit with“whopping” tax bills next year.

“Republicans are using brute force and speed to implement a lawthat will deliver a financial blow to hardworking Americans allacross the country,” said Senate Finance Committee Ranking MemberRon Wyden, D-Ore.

Both Wyden and House Ways and Means Ranking Member Rep. RichardNeal, D-Mass., recently raised concerns with the IRS in a letterthat the Trump administration could be politically interfering withthe development of the 2018 withholding tables.

Wyden and Neal argued that the Trump administration would beunder “substantial pressure” to make good on the president’spromise that the tax law will provide American households with a$4,000 tax cut.

The democratic lawmakers’ fear is that withholding tables willtake insufficient amounts out of taxpayers’ checks in 2018,“fostering an appearance of a larger tax cut in 2018” but leavingthem an expensive surprise when filing season comes.

Wyden and Neal said they’ll await the Government AccountabilityOffice’s review of the tables, which they requested, to “exposewhether the Trump administration is tampering with Americans’paychecks.”

For 2019, the IRS anticipates making further changes involvingwithholding. The IRS will work with the business and payrollcommunity to encourage workers to file new Forms W-4 next year andshare information on changes in the new tax law that impactwithholding.