State Agencies Bulletin No. 526

Subject
To provide the 2004 W-2 year-end processing schedule and policies.
Date Issued
December 17, 2004

Purpose

To provide the 2004 W-2 year-end processing schedule and policies.

Year-End Processing Schedule

Employee copies of the 2004 Form W-2 will be prepared by the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) and mailed to Agency payroll offices for their distribution before February 1, 2005. Employees in Agencies participating in the pilot mailing program will have their copies mailed directly to them before February 1, 2005.

W-2s for the 2004 calendar year will include earnings paid in checks dated:

Institution: 1/08/2004 through 12/23/2004
Administration: 1/14/2004 through 12/29/2004

In most circumstances, an employee who has worked for more than one State agency during the year will receive one W-2. Workers’ Compensation supplemental payments will continue to be included on the W-2 statements.

Note:

In order to be included in the 2004 W-2s, AC-230s for calendar year 2004 must be received by OSC no later than 12/29/2004 for the Institution cycle and no later than 1/05/2005 for the Administration cycle. If these deadlines are not met, Agency payroll offices will need to prepare corrected W-2 forms.

Refer to Payroll Bulletin No. 499 for the AC-230 processing schedule.

2004 Form W-2

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

Box 1 Wages, Tips and Other Compensation
Federal taxable wages.
Box 2 Federal Income Tax Withheld
Total federal income tax withheld.
Box 3 Social Security Wages
Wages subject to Social Security taxes, not to exceed $87,900.00.
Box 4 Social Security Tax Withheld
Social Security tax deducted, not to exceed $5,449.80.
Box 5 Medicare Wages
All wages subject to Medicare taxes. There is no salary cap on Medicare wages.
Box 6 Medicare Tax Withheld
Medicare tax deducted.
Box 9 Advance EIC Payments
Total earned income credit paid to an employee.
Box 10 Dependent Care Benefits
Total dependent care deductions.
Box 12 Codes (Amounts not included in Box 1)
E
- Section 403(b) contributions
G - Section 457(b) deferred compensation plan
P - Excludable moving expense reimbursements (not included in Boxes 3 and 5)
Box 13 Checkbox
[ ] Retirement Plan [ ] Third Party Sick Pay
Box 14 Other
Amounts to be reported:
  • 414 (H) All non-taxable retirement 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, State and Local taxes have already been paid.
  • 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.
  • FRB Taxable Fringe Benefit. This code is used for the taxable value of personal use of an employer-provided vehicle.
  • EDA Educational Assistance payments.
  • TXP Taxable transportation fringe benefits (parking) in excess of IRS excludable amounts.
  • PPL Pre-Paid Legal expense.
  • IMP Imputed Income. The value of the employer's contributions for employees with Domestic Partner Health Insurance.
  • WCX Workers' Compensation excluded amount. This is the amount awarded by the 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, Flexable Spencing Account, and Non-Taxable Health Insurance and is excluded for Federal Income tax, FICA and Medicare taxes, and is not included in Boxes 1, 3, and 5. This amount must be reported for State and Local taxes.
  • TPSThe amount of sick pay paid by a third party.
Box 15 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 16 State Wages
The State wages reported are the same as the amount of Federal wages required to be reported in Box 1 - Wages, Tips and Other Compensation.
Box 17 State Income Tax
The total State tax withheld is reported in this box.
Box 18 Local Wages
The total Local wages are reported in this box. New York City wages are on the top line and Yonkers wages are directly below in the same box. For a part-year New York City resident, the amount reported is only for that period during which the employee was a New York City resident. The Yonkers wages are the same amount as the State wages.
Box 19 Local Income Tax
The total Local taxes withheld are reported in this box. New York City tax withheld is on the top line and Yonkers tax withheld is directly below in the same box.
Box 20 Name of Locality
The name of the locality if Local income tax was withheld for New York City and/or City of Yonkers.

Employer’s Name and address This information will be printed on all copies of the W-2 and includes the New York State Federal ID # (14-6013200), City University Federal ID # (13-3893536), NYS Environmental Facilities Corporation 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 See Attachment: Taxable Gross Calculations

Employees in agencies other than CUNY should retain their last pay stub/advice statement of 2004 for a record of their Non-Taxable Health Insurance paid in 2004. Although this amount is deducted from Boxes 1, 3, and 5 to calculate the taxable salary for Federal income tax and Social Security and Medicare taxes, the amount paid for health insurance in 2004 does not appear on the W-2.

For CUNY employees with deductions for the Pre-Tax and After-Tax Transit Benefit should retain their last pay stub/advice statement of 2004 for a record of their participation in the New CUNY Transit Benefit Transportation Spending Account Program. Although the pre-tax amount is deducted from Boxes 1, 3, and 5 to calculate the taxable salary for Federal income tax and Social Security and Medicare taxes, the amount paid for the Pre-Tax Transit Benefit and the After-Tax Transit Benefit in 2004 do not appear on the W-2. CUNY employees with deductions for Dependent Care, Flexible Spending Account and Non-taxable Health Insurance are reported as IRC125 in Box 14.

W-2 Distribution

Beginning with the 2004 W-2s, the agency return address will now be used for all employee W-2s.

The distribution procedure is the same method used for employees’ direct deposit advices (excluding the expanded pilot mailing agencies). If OSC currently mails your direct deposit advice statements, your 2004 W-2 statements will be mailed. Agencies that currently pick up advice statements will be contacted to pick up 2004 W-2 statements.

If your agency does not want the 2004 W-2s distributed in the same manner as your direct deposit advice statements or if your agency is responsible for multiple agency codes and you prefer the W-2 distribution handled differently than the current direct deposit distribution, please send an email to the Payroll Deductions mailbox.

W-2 Corrections

If a W-2 correction is needed, agencies should not release the corrected W-2 to an employee until the correction is approved by OSC.

Questions

Questions concerning the W-2 or the W-2 correction process and questions concerning the AC-230 process may be directed to the Payroll Deductions mailbox.