W-2 Information: Understanding Your W-2
The Form W-2 reflects wages paid by warrants/direct deposit payments that were issued to you during the tax year (January 1 through December 31), regardless of the pay period in which you earned the wages.
Form W-2 contains all wages and tax information for you regardless of the number of State of California agencies/CSU campuses for which you worked during the tax year.
The year-to-date gross on your final paycheck stub (earnings statement/direct deposit advice) may not agree with Box 1 (Wages, Tips, Other Compensation) of your W-2, due to the following items:
- Retirement
- Employee paid health
- Tax Shelter Annuity (TSA) Contributions
- Deferred Compensation/Savings Plus Program Contributions
- Dependent Care Account (DCA)
- Health Care Reimbursement Account (HCRA)
- Pre-tax Parking Deduction
- Accounts Receivable Deductions
- Non-Uniformed State Payroll System (USPS) Adjustments (Including taxable fringe benefits)
Box 1*
|
Wages, tips, and other compensation
Normally, this box contains your total year-to-date federal taxable gross pay. For some employees, this box contains the total of the following:
Note: Industrial Disability Leave (IDL) payments are considered employee benefits rather than wages and are not included in Box 1. Additionally, IDL payments are not subject to Social Security or Medicare wages and will not be reflected in Box 3 (Social Security Wages) or Box 5 (Medicare Wages and Tips). |
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Box 2
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Federal income tax withheld
Year-to-date federal income tax withheld. |
Box 3*
|
Social Security (OASDI) wages
Year-to-date wages subject to OASDI, including imputed income. |
Box 4
|
Social Security tax withheld
Year-to-date employee Social Security (OASDI) deduction computed based upon the 2018 rate of 6.2% of wages subject to Social Security. The 2018 maximum wages subject to Social Security is $128,400. |
Box 5*
|
Medicare wages and tips
Year-to-date wages subject to Medicare, including imputed income. |
Box 6
|
Medicare tax withheld
Year-to-date employee Medicare deduction. This amount is based upon the 2018 rate of 1.45% of wages subject to medicare. There is no maximum amount of wages subject to Medicare. |
Box C
|
Employer's name, address and ZIP code The address of the State Controller's Office for the State of California. |
Box 10
|
Dependent Care benefits
Year-to-date DCA (Dependent Care Account) deductions. |
Box 12
|
Tax Sheltered & Tax Deferred Deductions
|
Box 13
|
Not titled, but used to identify if employee is in a pension plan.
An "X" is indicated in this box for all employees who are members of the California Public Employees' Retirement Plan (CalPERS). Employees in the Alternate Retirement Plan or Part-time, Seasonal and Temporary retirement plan will not have an "X" indicated. |
*Box 1 and Box 3 or 5 may not agree due to the following items:
- Accounts Receivable Deductions
- Reaching Social Security Maximum Wages
- Deferred Compensation Deductions
- CalPERS or PST Contributions
- Flex Benefit Deductions
- Tax Sheltered Annuity (TSA) Deductions
- Pre-Tax Benefit Deductions
- Pre-Tax Parking Deductions
- Consolidated Benefits
Any questions concerning Federal or State tax returns must be directed to the local Internal Revenue Service or Franchise Tax Board Office.