The purpose of this bulletin is to explain the 1998 W-2 forms issued by the Office of the State Comptroller and the changes from previous years.
Employees will receive one W-2 for each Company where employed, regardless of the number of agencies involved. Therefore, if an employee worked in multiple agencies for a specific Company, they will receive one W-2. If an employee worked in multiple agencies in two companies, they will receive two W-2's. Within a Company, W-2's will be issued and distributed to the agency the employee is currently working, or if the employee has left state service, worked last. However, at conversion there were some situations where multiple records were established that resulted in W-2's being issued to the employee’s previous agency.
1998 W-2 Form
The W-2 forms will be produced in the same order as checks and direct deposit stubs are produced, Department ID, Mail Drop ID, Social Security Number. The information which will appear on the W-2 is described below:
The Reconciliation Statement has been eliminated on the 1998 W-2 Forms
All information necessary to complete tax returns is included on the W-2 form. The non-taxable health insurance that appeared in the Reconciliation Statement has been excluded from taxable wages and is not needed for tax returns for NYS employees. Employees of the City University of New York are required to add this amount back to taxable wages for State and Local tax returns. The IRC125 amount reported for City University employees includes the sum of non-taxable health insurance, Dependent Care and Flex Spending.
Box 1 Wages, Tips and Other Compensation
"Wages, Tips and Other Compensation" (Box 1) is the employee’s gross pay minus any non-taxable amounts for tax deferred annuities, deferred compensation, non-taxable maintenance, 414(H) contributions, non-taxable health, dependent care and worker’s compensation excluded amount.
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 $68,400.00
Box 4 Social Security Tax Withheld
The Social Security tax deducted, not to exceed $4240.80.
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
Total earned income credit paid to employee.
Box 10 Dependent Care
The total dependent care deductions.
Box 12 Taxable Fringe Benefit
The taxable fringe benefit amount. This amount is included in Box 1, and will be the sum of the value of personal use of a State vehicle, transportation fringe benefits (parking) in excess of IRS excludable amounts, and pre-paid legal expense.
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 and 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 as described below and are also explained on the reverse of the W-2.
All amounts except 414(H) contributions, WC Excluded Amount and CUNY IRC section 125 amounts are included in Box 1. The 414(H) contributions and CUNY IRC section 125 amounts 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. This amount is part of the taxable fringe benefit amount in Box 12.
PPL - Pre-Paid Legal expense. This amount is part of the taxable fringe benefit amount in Box 12.
IMP - Imputed Income - The value of the employers’ contribution for employees with Domestic Partner Health Insurance.
WCX- Worker’s compensation excluded amount. This is the amount that has been 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.
(NOTE: Multiple W-2's will be issued for employees with more than 4 items in Box 14.)
Box 15 Check Boxes
The appropriate boxes 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
Box 17 State Wages
The total State wages will be reported in this box and includes amounts for 414H retirement contributions and CUNY IRC section 125 that are not included in box 1. NYS Tax reporting instructs filers to begin with the Federal taxable wage and make the appropriate additions for 414H retirement contributions and CUNY IRC section 125 amounts . Employees should be reminded not to begin with the State wages reported in box 17 since these amounts have already been added back in to determine State wages.
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.
OSC will begin reporting Local Wages on the 1999 W-2 forms.
Box 21 Local Income Tax
Total local tax withheld. If both, New York City and Yonkers tax withheld both amounts will be reported in the same box.
Employer’s Name and Address
This information will be printed on all copies of the W-2 and include the State’s Federal ID # (14-6013200), City University’s 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).
Listings
In addition to the employee W-2's, agencies will receive a listing of W-2 forms printed for their agency. The report TAX910AU will provide detailed W-2 information and will be available on Reveal.
Corrected and Reissued W-2's
Occasionally, agencies must correct or reissue a W-2. A supply of 4-part W-2's will be sent to each agency for this purpose. The 1998 4-part W-2 is printed three forms per page.
The 4-part W-2's must be prepared in separate groups for corrected and reissued forms.
Local Wage box was not used this year and should be left blank.
- Reissued W-2's
When a W-2 Form is lost or destroyed, a substitute 4-part W-2 form must be prepared by the agency and issued to the employee. The original information should be taken from the Tax 910AU (W-2 Payroll Summary Listing available on Reveal) which contains the information reported on the W-2. It must be clearly marked "REISSUED STATEMENT". Copies B, C and 2 are given to the employee.
Agencies can reissue W-2 forms for any year when requested by an employee.
Submit Copy D clearly marked REISSUED to the Deduction Section.
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Corrected W-2's
Corrected W-2's must have "CORRECTION" entered at the top of the W-2. Corrected W-2 forms copies B, C and 2 are given to the employee.
DO NOT ISSUE Corrected W-2's for Social Security deficiencies. The Office of the State Comptroller will handle deficiencies.
When you prepare corrected W-2 statements, a W-2 correction worksheet must also be completed and returned to OSC. A supply of W-2 Correction Worksheets will be included with your W-2's. If additional forms are necessary, photocopies should be used.
The W-2 Correction Worksheet for 1998 includes the following information:
- Agency Code
- Employee’s Name and Social Security Number
- The originally reported W-2 information
- The corrected W-2 amount(s)
- The difference between the original W-2 and corrected W-2 amount(s)
- Reason for the corrected W-2 (The reason codes are found on the bottom of the W-2 Correction Worksheet.)
Submit Copy D along with the W-2 Correction Worksheet(s) explaining the changes, and all copies of all original W-2's so that they are received in the OSC Payroll Deduction Section as soon as possible.
NOTE: When replacing a W-2, do not increase the Social Security wage or tax beyond the maximum amount. In cases where an employee’s deductions for Social Security exceeds the maximums ($68,400 and $4240.80 respectively), the Payroll Deduction Section of the Office of the State Comptroller should be contacted at (518) 473-1989 so that a refund may be generated.
Mail all Copy D’s with required attachments to:
Office of the State Comptroller
Deduction Section-Bureau of Payroll Audit
A.E. Smith State Office Bldg - 8th Floor
Albany, New York 12236
Undeliverable and Unused W-2 Forms
- All copies of the Office of the State Comptroller issued W-2 forms that are undeliverable must be returned to the OSC Payroll Deduction Section at the address shown above. The forms must be received in the Office of the State Comptroller by June 4, 1999.
- All blank 4-part W-2's may be retained by the agency for future use. The forms should be stored in a secure location and should not be issued without the authorization of the Agency Payroll Officer.
Questions
Questions concerning W-2 distribution or reissued or corrected W-2's, should be directed to Eileen Cooper at (518) 473-1989.
You may wish to distribute pages 2 through 5 to your employees to explain the information on the W-2.