State Agencies Bulletin No. 208

Subject
2000 W-2 Year End Processing
Date Issued
November 13, 2000

Purpose

To provide processing schedule and policies.

Year-End Processing Schedule

Employee copies of 2000 W-2 forms will be prepared by the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) and mailed to the agency payroll units for distribution before February 1, 2001. W-2s for the 2000 calendar year will include earnings paid on checks dated:  

Administration: 1/05/2000 through 12/20/2000
Institution: 1/13/2000 through 12/28/2000

An employee who has worked for more than one State agency during the year, in most circumstances, will receive one W-2.

Workers' Compensation supplemental payments will continue to be included in the W-2 statements.

As instructed in Bulletin No. 192 dated October 3, 2000, in order for refunds of checks issued in 2000 to be properly reflected in the W-2 issued to each employee, AC-230's must be processed by the dates provided in Bulletin No. 192.

If AC-230s are not received by the deadlines outlined in Bulletin No. 192, the agency payroll unit will be responsible for replacing the original W-2s with corrected W-2 forms.

When possible, lost time should be processed in a subsequent payroll period through time entry. AC-230s should only be used for complete refunds, or if no other options are available.

2000 W-2 Form

The information which will appear on the W-2 is described below:

Box 1 Wages, Tips and Other Compensation

Taxable wages are reported in this box.

Box 2 Federal Income Tax Withheld

The total federal income tax withheld is in this box.

Box 3 Social Security Wages

The wages subject to Social Security taxes, not to exceed $76,200.00

Box 4 Social Security Tax Withheld The Social Security Tax deducted, not to exceed $4,724.40
Box 5 Medicare Wages All wages subject to Medicare taxes. There is no salary cap on Medicare wages.
Box 6 Medicare Tax Withheld The Medicare tax deducted
Box 9 Advance EIC Payments The total earned income credit paid to an employee.
Box 10 Dependent Care The total dependent care deductions.
Box 12 Taxable Fringe Benefit The taxable fringe benefit amount. This amount reflects the value of personal use of a State vehicle and is included in Box 1.
Box 13 See Employee Notice If there is an amount in Box 13, there will be a letter code next to it. The codes are as follows and are also explained on the reverse of the W-2.
E- Section 403(b) contributions
G- Section 457 contributions
P- Excludable moving expense reimbursements
Q- Military employee basic quarters, subsistence and combat zone compensation
Box 14 Other If there is an amount in Box 14, there will be a code next to it. The codes are described below and are also explained on the reverse of the W-2. NOTE:

Multiple W-2s will be issued for employees with more than 4 items in Box 14.

All categories listed below except 414(H) contributions, WC Excluded Amount and CUNY IRC section 125 amounts are included in Box 1. The 414(H) contributions are not included in Box 1, but must be reported for State and local taxes.

UTA Uniform/Tool Allowance
EXP Taxable Expense - This code is used for payments of "lieu of expenses", non overnight meal allowances, excess per diem reimbursements or personal car mileage.
EDA Educational Assistance
414(H) All non-taxable Tier 3 and Tier 4 contributions made to New York State or City retirement systems or to TIAA/CREF. This amount must be reported for state and local taxes. If there is a minus sign (-) with this amount, it can be disregarded for state and local taxes since the taxes have already been paid.
TXP Taxable transportation fringe benefits (parking) in excess of IRS excludable amounts.
PPL Pre-paid Legal expense.
IMP Imputed Income - The value of the employers' contributions for employees with Domestic Partner Health Insurance.
WCX Workers' Compensation excluded amount. This is the amount awarded by NYS Workers' Compensation Board, which is excluded from the gross pay for the current year for a work related injury.
IRC125 City University of New York (CUNY) employees only. This amount includes Dependent Care, Flexible Spending Account, and Non-Taxable Health Insurance and is excludable for Federal Income Tax only and is not included in Box 1. This amount must be reported for
State and Local taxes.
Box 15 Deferred Compensation, Deceased, Pension Plan The appropriate box(s) will be checked.
Box 16 State A two-letter code from the list below indicating which State income taxes were withheld.
NY- New York
IL- Illinois
DC- District of Columbia
VA- Virginia
Box 18 State Income Tax The total State tax withheld is reported in this box.
Box 19 Name of Locality Name of locality if local income tax was withheld for New York City and/or Yonkers.
Box 21 Local Income Tax The total local tax withheld. If both, New York City tax withheld is on top line and Yonkers tax withheld is directly below in the same box.

Employer's Name and Address

This information will be printed on all copies of the W-2 and include the NYS Federal ID # (14-6013200), City University Federal ID# (13-3893536), NYS Environmental Facilities Corp Federal ID# (14-1499804), NYS Science and Technology Federal ID# (14-1491323), SUNY Construction Fund Federal ID# (14-6019701) or Industrial Exhibit Authority Federal ID# (16-1332929).

Additional Employee Information

Attachment A to this bulletin shows how Federal, and SS/Med taxable wages are calculated.

Employees should retain their last check stub of 2000 for a record of the Non-Taxable Health Insurance paid in 2000. This information does not appear on the W-2.

In response to many inquiries about prior year social security wages, employees should be reminded of Federal regulations that requires maintaining Copy C of Form W-2 for at least 3 years after the due date for filing your income tax return. (See instructions on back of W-2). Maintaining Copy C until you begin receiving social security benefits will also help in answering questions about your work record and/or earnings for a particular year. To protect social security benefits, the Social Security Administration recommends maintaining Copy C and conducting periodic confirmations of your work record with them.

Questions

Questions regarding this bulletin may be directed to the Payroll Deductions mailbox.

Attachment - Taxable Gross Calculations