Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Wiktionary
n. A withholding, a tax withheld from employees' salary and paid to the government. The withheld amount is considered a credit in final taxation.
WordNet
n. income tax withheld from employees' wages and paid directly to the government by the employer [syn: withholding]
Wikipedia
A withholding tax, also called a retention tax, is a government requirement for the payer of an item of income to withhold or deduct tax from the payment, and pay that tax to the government. In most jurisdictions, withholding tax applies to employment income. Many jurisdictions also require withholding tax on payments of interest or dividends. In most jurisdictions, there are additional withholding tax obligations if the recipient of the income is resident in a different jurisdiction, and in those circumstances withholding tax sometimes applies to royalties, rent or even the sale of real estate. Governments use withholding tax as a means to combat tax evasion, and sometimes impose additional withholding tax requirements if the recipient has been delinquent in filing tax returns, or in industries where tax evasion is perceived to be common.
Typically the withholding tax is treated as a payment on account of the recipient's final tax liability, when the withholding is made in advance. It may be refunded if it is determined, when a tax return is filed, that the recipient's tax liability to the government which received the withholding tax is less than the tax withheld, or additional tax may be due if it is determined that the recipient's tax liability is more than the withholding tax. In some cases the withholding tax is treated as discharging the recipient's tax liability, and no tax return or additional tax is required. Such withholding is known as final withholding.
The amount of withholding tax on income payments other than employment income is usually a fixed percentage. In the case of employment income the amount of withholding tax is often based on an estimate of the employee's final tax liability, determined either by the employee or by the government.
Usage examples of "withholding tax".
Now, I'll let you look if you promise not to touch and I don't have to pay withholding tax on my reward.
The way you could tell is, if an eighteen-year-old claimed to have ten dependents, it's because he didn't want any withholding tax to come from his paycheck.
Government, since Friday is one-fifth of the week and the government takes one-fifth of your check for withholding tax.
Toby was talking some nonsense about the withholding tax payable on the interest accruing from Swiss bank accounts, but he knew that Grigoriev was not really listening.
After a while Farwell told him he was hired and to see the girl for his withholding tax and personnel data forms.