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Understanding Form W-2

Form W-2, also known as Wage and Tax Statement, is a yearly summary of an employee’s income received and taxes paid through payroll. The IRS requires employers to provide Form W-2s to the government and to employees each year by January 31st. Use our step-by-step instructions to view and print your Form W-2 in MyDay. A paper copy is also mailed to each employee's home address.

Below you will find information for each field of your annual Form W-2.

If you have questions about your Form W-2, please contact the Payroll Office at payrollhelp@newschool.edu. To make changes to your federal and state/local tax withholding election, you will need to submit a new Form W-4.

Form W-2 Fields

It is very common for wages on an employee’s final pay stub of the year to differ from the amounts shown on their W-2. Form W-2 reports wages subject to federal, state, and local income, social security and medicare taxes. Pre-tax deductions including health insurance, dental insurance, dependent care and health spending accounts, 403(b), and transit savings contributions are not included in taxable income.

The New School employees who receive Form W-2 will have values in one or more of the following boxes:

Box 1 - Wages, tips, and other compensation Earnings subject to federal income tax, including bonuses and non-cash fringe benefits. Pre-tax benefit deductions and contributions to traditional retirement plans may reduce the federal taxable wages.
Box 2 - Federal income tax withheld Federal income tax withheld from your pay during the calendar year. Employees are encouraged to review their withholdings each year and submit a new form W-4 if needed.
Box 3 - Social security wages Earnings subject to social security tax, including bonuses and non-cash fringe benefits. Pre-tax benefit deductions including health insurance, dental insurance, dependent and health flexible spending accounts reduce social security wages. Contributions to retirement plans do not reduce social security wages.

The maximum social security wage for 2023 is $160,200.
Box 4 - Social security tax withheld Social security tax withheld from your wages. For 2023, the social security tax rate is 6.2% of the wages in Box 3 and should not exceed $9,932.40 ($160,200 x 6.2%).
Box 5 - Medicare wages and tips Earnings subject to Medicare tax, including bonuses and non-cash fringe benefits. Pre-tax benefit deductions including health insurance, dental insurance, dependent and health flexible spending accounts may reduce Medicare wages. Contributions to retirement plans do not reduce Medicare wages.
Box 6 - Medicare tax withheld Medicare tax withheld from your wages. For 2023, the Medicare tax rate is 1.45% of the wages in Box 5. Medicare wages in excess of $200,000 in a calendar year are subject to .09% Additional Medicare Tax.
Box 10 - Dependent Care Benefits Amount paid into a dependent care flexible spending account.
Box 12 - Codes

C - Taxable cost of group-term life insurance over $50,000. This amount is included in boxes 1, 3 (up to the social security wage base), and 5. Employees with Box 12 Code C will have a Group Term Life- Imputed Income line in the Earnings category of their pay slip.

D - Elective deferrals to a section 401(k) cash or deferred arrangement.
DD - Cost of employer-sponsored health coverage. This is a total of both employee and employer-paid premiums and is not taxable.
E - Elective deferrals under a section 403(b) salary reduction agreement.
G - Elective deferrals and employer contributions (including non-elective deferrals) to a section 457(b) deferred compensation plan.
W - Employer contributions to a health savings account (HSA) plus amounts the employee elected to contribute using a section 125 plan to the HSA.

Box 13 - Retirement plan This box is checked if the employee was an “active participant” during the calendar year in a defined benefit or contribution plan. Contributions by the employee, the employer, or both will qualify as active participation.
Box 14 - Other Used to display information that may be relevant for tax filing such as dental premium deductions, NY Paid Family Leave deductions, contributions to a health flexible spending account, contributions to parking/transit savings accounts, and NY Healthcare Worker Bonuses received.
Box 16 - State wages, tips, etc. Earnings subject to state income tax, including bonuses and non-cash fringe benefits. Pre-tax benefit deductions and contributions to traditional retirement plans may reduce the federal taxable wages. Values in Box 1 and Box 16 should be the same.
Box 17 - State income tax State income tax withheld from your pay during the calendar year. Employees are encouraged to review their withholdings each year and submit a new state withholding form if needed.
Box 18 - Local wages, tips, etc. Earnings subject to local (NYC or Yonkers) income tax, including bonuses and non-cash fringe benefits. Pre-tax benefit deductions and contributions to traditional retirement plans may reduce the federal taxable wages.
Box 19 - Local income tax Local income tax withheld from your pay during the calendar year. Employees are encouraged to review their withholdings each year and submit a new local tax withholding form if needed.

See Also: View and Print W-2 Form

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