Box a: Employee’s social security number. This is your Social Security Number. It should match the number on your Social Security Card. If the number is incorrect, please provide your Social Security Card to the Tax Department. The Tax Department will update and issue a corrected W-2 form.

Box b: Employer identification number (EIN). This is your employer’s unique tax identification number.

Box c: Employer’s name, address and ZIP code. This identifies the name, address, city, state and zip code of your employer.

Box d: Control number. This is a code that identifies this unique W-2 form in your employer’s records. It is an optional field and may be left blank.

Box e: Employee’s name. This identifies your full name (first name, middle initial and last name). Your name must match the name on your Social Security Card. If the name is incorrect, please provide a copy of the Social Security Card to the Tax Department. The Tax Department will update and issue a corrected W-2 form.

Box f: Employee’s address. This identifies your address, city, state and zip code.

Numbered Boxes on W-2 form:

Box 1: Wages, tips, other compensation. Box 1 reports your total taxable wages or salary for federal income tax purposes. This figure includes your wages, salary, tips, reported bonuses and other taxable compensation. Any taxable fringe benefits (such as group term life insurance) are also included in your Box 1 wages. Box 1 does not include any pre-tax benefits such as savings contributions to a 401(k) plan, 403(b) plan, health insurance or other types of pre-tax benefits.

Box 2: Federal income tax withheld. Box 2 reports the total amount withheld from your paychecks for federal income taxes. This represents the amount of federal taxes you have paid-in throughout the year.

Box 3: Social security wages. Box 3 reports the total amount of wages subject to the Social Security tax for 2015. The Social Security tax is assessed on wages up to $118,500. This limit is called the Social Security wage base.

Box 4: Social security tax withheld. Box 4 reports the total amount of Social Security taxes withheld from your paychecks. The Social Security tax is a flat tax rate of 6.2% on your wage income, up to a maximum wage base of $118,500 (for 2015). Wages above the Social Security wage base are not subject to the Social Security tax. Accordingly, the maximum figure shown in Box 4 should be $7,347 ($118,500 maximum wage bases times 6.2%).

If you have two or more jobs during the year and your total Social Security wages (Box 3) exceed $118,500, you may have paid-in more Social Security tax than is required. You claim the excess Social Security tax withholding as a refundable credit on your Form 1040.

Box 5: Medicare wages and tips. Box 5 reports the amount of wages subject to the Medicare tax. There is no maximum wage base for Medicare taxes.

Box 6: Medicare tax withheld. Box 6 reports the amount of taxes withheld from your paycheck for the Medicare tax. The Medicare tax is a flat tax rate of 1.45% on your total Medicare wage under $200,000. Employees whose Medicare wages are over $200,000 will be subject to an additional withholding for the additional Medicare tax at a rate of 0.9% on Medicare wages over the $200,000. This is a rate of 2.35% on all Medicare wages over $200,000.

Box 10: Dependent Care benefits. Box 10 reports any dependent care benefits paid under a qualified plan (Section 125 cafeteria plan). It may also include the amount of benefits paid by the employer to the daycare facility or reimbursed to the employee to subsidize the benefit. Amounts up to $5,000 are non-taxable benefits. Any amount in excess of $5,000 is reported as taxable wages in Boxes 1, 3 and 5.

Complete Form 2441, Child and Dependent Care Expenses, to compute any taxable and non-taxable amounts.

Box 12: Deferred Compensation and Other Compensations. There are several types of compensation and benefits that can be reported in Box 12. Box 12 will report a single letter or double letter code followed by a dollar amount. A complete list of the codes can be found on the box instructions on the W-2 form. These are the most common codes found on Penn’s W-2 form:

Code C: Taxable cost of group-term life insurance over $50,000. This amount is included as part of your taxable wages in Boxes 1, 3 and 5.

Code E: Non-taxable elective alary deferrals to a 403(b) retirement plan.

Code G: Non-taxable elective salary deferrals and employer contributions (including non-elective deferrals) to a Section 457(b) retirement plan.

Code M: Uncollected Social Security or RRTA tax on taxable group-term life insurance over $50,000.

Code N: Uncollected Medicare tax on taxable group-term life insurance over $50,000.

Code P: Excludable moving expense reimbursements paid directly to employee (not included in Box 1, 3, or 5).

Code T: Employer-paid adoption benefits. This amount is not included in Box 1 wages. Use form 8839 to calculate the taxable and non-taxable portion of these adoption benefits.

Code W: Employer and employee contributions to a Health Savings Account. Report this amount on Form 8889, Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).

Code Y: Salary deferrals under a Section 409A non-qualified deferred compensation plan.

Code Z: Income received under 409A non-qualified deferred compensation plan. This amount is included in taxable wages in Box 1. This amount is subject to an additional tax reported on the employee’s Form 1040.

Code BB: After-tax contributions to a Roth 403(b) retirement plan.

Code DD: Reports the cost of employer-sponsored health coverage. The amount reported with Code DD is not taxable.

Box 13: Check boxes. There are three check boxes in Box 13. The only box that may be checked off that applies to you as an employee of the University is the Retirement Plan.

Retirement plan means that you participated in your employer’s retirement plan.

If the “Retirement plan” box is checked, special limits may apply to the amount of traditional IRA contributions you may deduct. See Pub. 590, Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs).

Box 14: Other Tax Information. Your employer may report additional tax information in Box 14. If any amounts are reported, they will have a brief description of what the amounts are for. For example, SUT represents the amount of State Unemployment tax that was withheld from your earnings during the year.

Box 15: State and State Employer’s Identification. Box 15 reports your employer’s state and state tax identification number.

Box 16: State wages. Box 16 reports the total amount of taxable wages earned in that state.

Box 17: State income tax withheld. Box 17 reports the total amount of state income taxes withheld from your paychecks for the wages reported in Box 16.

Box 18: Local wages. Box 18 reports the total amount of wages subject to local income taxes.

Box 19: Local income tax withheld. Box 19 reports the total amount of taxes withheld from your paychecks for local income taxes.

Box 20: Locality name. Box 20 provides a brief description of the local tax being paid.

—Victor Adams, Tax and International Operations

This story is related to 2016 Payroll Tax Updates