What is a W-2 and why do I need it?
The W-2 form is your year-end tax form given to you by your employer. You’ll use this form when filing your personal federal and state taxes. This form lists all taxes withheld and any relevant benefits paid out to you throughout the year. You’ll receive one W-2 per company, so if you were employed by multiple companies throughout the year, you’ll receive multiple W-2s specific to each company. For more information on the form W-2, please review this document by the IRS.
What do the boxes on the W-2 mean?
- Box 1: All wages paid out that are subject to federal income tax. This will not include the amount of any pre-tax deductions which are not subject to federal income tax.
- Box 2: This will represent the total amount of federal income tax withheld and paid throughout the year.
- Box 3: This box includes wages paid out that are subject to social security tax, but does not include tips (those are listed in another box). This will not include the amount of any pre-tax deductions which are not subject to social security tax.
- Box 4: The total amount of social security tax withheld and paid throughout the year.
- Box 5: All wages paid out that are subject to medicare tax.This will not include the amount of any pre-tax deductions which are not subject to medicare tax.
- Box 6: The total amount of medicare tax paid throughout the year.
- Box 7: Your reported tips throughout the year.
- Box 8: Tips assigned to you in addition to your reported tips. This amount is not included in boxes 1, 3, 5, or 7.
- Box 10: Total dependent care benefits withheld from your paycheck throughout the year.
- Box 11: Total amount you received from your company’s non-qualified retirement plan.
- Box 12: This box reports various compensation and benefit amounts which are identified through different letter codes. For a list of complete codes and their descriptions, please review page 30 of this IRS document.
- Box 13: Check boxes used to indicate if you were a statutory employee, participated in the company’s retirement plan, or received third party sick pay for the year.
- Box 14: An informational box used to list other relevant items such as S-Corp insurance, minister housing, etc.
- Box 15: The state your company assessed taxes in and their state identification number.
- Box 16: All wages paid out which are subject to that state’s income tax. This will not include the amount of any pre-tax deductions which are not subject to state income tax.
- Box 17: The total amount of state income tax paid throughout the year.
- Box 18: All wages paid out which are subject to any local, city, or other state income taxes.
- Box 19: The total amount of local, city, or other state income taxes paid throughout the year.
- Box 20: The code or name of the other local, city, or other state income taxes reported in Box 19.