The Form W-2 (Wage and Tax statement) is an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax form used in the United States to report wages paid to employees and the taxes withheld. Please see below for an explanation of each box. To help you further understand your Form W-2 we have provided a sample W-2 Wage and Tax Statement (PDF).
- Box 1: Wages, Tips, & Other Compensation
Box 1 reports your total taxable wages for federal income tax. This amount includes your salary, benefit credit, imputed income, taxable education benefits, taxable moving expenses, taxable tickets, and other taxable compensation. Box 1 does not include pre-tax benefits such as retirement contributions, medical, dental, vision, flexible savings accounts, parking, and other pre-tax deductions.
FAQ: Why are my wages in Box 1 lower than my gross salary?
Box 1 reports total gross earnings less total pre-tax deductions. Total gross earnings, taxes, pre-tax deductions are listed on your final year end pay slip.
- Box 2: Federal income Tax Withheld (FIT)
Box 2 reports the total federal income taxes withheld from your pays. The amount of federal tax listed is the year to date that you have paid in throughout the calendar year.
FAQ: Why is my federal income tax so low or why is nothing listed?
Federal income tax is calculated based on your total taxable wages each pay period, your election on your Form W-4, and the IRS tax tables. If there is low FIT deduction, you should review your Form W-4 to change your federal income tax withholding. If no FIT is listed, you may have claimed “Exempt” on your Form W-4 or you may have not had enough earnings per pay to have tax withholdings. Visit this link for instructions on how to view your current Form W-4 elections and how to make an update. Visit IRS 2025 Publication 15-T for 2025 federal income tax tables.
- Box 3: Social Security Wages
Box 3 reports your total taxable wages for Social Security tax. This amount may differ from the amount reported in Box 1.
Please note the Social Security tax has a base wage limit of $176,100 for 2025. Social Security taxes will cease once this limit is reached each calendar year and start over at the beginning of each new calendar year.
- Box 4: Social Security Tax Withheld
Box 4 reports the total amount of Social Security taxes withheld from your pays, based on the taxable wages in Box 3. The Social Security tax is 6.2% on your taxable wages, up to a maximum wage base of $176,100. Wages above the base amount are not subject to this tax. The maximum tax withheld in Box 4 will not exceed $10,918.20 in tax ($176,100 maximum wage base multiplied by 6.2%).
- Box 5: Medicare Wages and Tips
Box 5 reports your total taxable wages for Medicare tax. This amount may differ from the amount reported in Box 1.
Please note there is no maximum wage base for Medicare taxes.
- Box 6: Medicare Tax Withheld
Box 6 reports the Medicare taxes withheld from your pays, based on the taxable wages in Box 5. Medicare tax is 1.45% on your total Medicare wages up to $200,000. Employees whose Medicare wages are over $200,000 will be subject to an additional 0.9% tax withholding.
- Box 10: Dependent Care Benefits
Amount paid for dependent care. For information on dependent care, please contact the Benefits Department.
- Box 11: Nonqualified Plans
Taxable amount from a non-qualified deferred compensation plan.
- Box 12: Deferred Compensation and Other Compensations
This reports several types of compensation and benefits including imputed life, employee pre-tax retirement contributions, qualified relocation, health savings account, Roth IRA, employee and employer contributions to your medical plan, and employee 457(b) Roth. Box 12 will report a single letter or double letter code followed by a dollar amount. Please see the Box 12 instructions on our sample W-2 Wage and Tax Statement for a complete list of codes.
- Box 13: Checkboxes
An “X” indicates that you have participated in a retirement plan.
For information on your retirement plan, please contact the Benefits Department.
- Box 14: Other Taxable Fringe Benefits
The most common Box 14 item will be 14X or Pittsburgh Local Service Tax (LST). Other items that could be included are basketball/football tickets, imputed income/imputed medical, nonqualified moving expense benefit, education benefits, scholar ADD/scholar ADD refund/scholar life/scholar life refund, scholar bus pass/scholar bus pass refund, and overtime premium compensation. Box 14 will report a dollar amount followed by a code. Please see the Box 14 instructions on our sample W-2 Wage and Tax Statement for a complete list of codes.
New for 2025:
The Box 14O entry is for informational purposes only and reports the premium portion of overtime pay that may be temporarily exempt from federal income tax for 2025. This is reported as a separate amount as a courtesy for 2025 and is not an IRS requirement. This may change for 2026 reporting. The University will report this amount in Box 14O on your 2025 Form W-2. Employees may claim the exemption when filing their individual tax returns if they choose to do so. The University of Pittsburgh is unable to provide any tax advice. You should contact a tax advisor if you need assistance. Refer to this chart for more information on what is included in the Box 14O total. You may also download this worksheet (XLSX) for further assistance with the premium portion of overtime calculation.
For more information regarding how to report and reporting limits, please visit the IRS website. You can also find frequently asked questions regarding the deduction for overtime compensation on this page of the IRS website.
- Box 16: State Wages, Tips, Etc.
Box 16 reports your total taxable wages for state tax. This amount may differ from the amount reported in Box 1, 3 or 5. Box 16 will not include certain pretax benefit deductions.
Please note that if you lived in multiple states within the calendar year, you may have additional Forms W-2 with this information listed.
- Box 17: State Income Tax
Box 17 reports total state income taxes withheld from your pays. This amount is based on your Box 16 taxable wages. Please note that if you lived in a reciprocal state(s) within the year, you may have additional Forms W-2 with this information listed.
- Box 18: Local Wages, Tips, Etc.
Box 18 reports your total taxable wages for local tax. This amount may differ from the amount reported in Box 1, 3 or 5. Box 18 will not include certain pretax benefit deductions.
Please note that if you lived in multiple localities within the calendar year, you may have additional Forms W-2 with this information listed.
- Box 19: Local Income Tax
Box 19 reports the total local income taxes withheld from your pays. This amount is based on your Box 18 taxable wages.
- Box 20: Locality Name
Box 20 provides the name of the locality where the tax is being paid. Locality number is based on the University of Pittsburgh location.
For fully remote employees, Box 20 will include county, city, and school taxes that were withheld and will have the municipality that the tax was withheld for.
Jordan Tax Service distributes your local income taxes to the locality indicated on your pay slips. The number listed in this box is for the University of Pittsburgh, each locality is not uniquely identified.
FAQ: Why is the number listed not associated with my municipality?
Box 20 Locality Name will list your work location as the PSD code. This is correct as it is where the University of Pittsburgh submits the local taxes that are withheld.
The PSD code for the University of Pittsburgh main campus is 700102.
- Box 12DD
The reporting in Box 12, using Code DD, of the cost of employer-sponsored health coverage is for your information only. The amount reported with Code DD is not taxable. This amount represents the total of the employee and employer contributions to your medical plan. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) requires that employers disclose the aggregate value of employer-sponsored health coverage to each employee on Form W-2, Box 12DD. Excluded from the reporting requirements are HAS’s, FSAs, long-term care and vision and dental plans.
Additional information on the reporting requirements of healthcare can be found on the IRS website.
- Additional FAQs:
I’m a Graduate Student Researcher and my Form W-2 does not list State/Local earnings or wages, why?
Graduate Student Researchers are not subject to Pennsylvania state or local income tax withholding; therefore, no earnings or taxes would be listed on your W-2 for those sections (Boxes 16-19).
Why did I not receive a Form W-2 this year?
If you received a Training Grant or Pre Doc Fellow, the University does not withhold taxes or report your fellowship or training grant on a Form W-2. Please refer to IRS Publication 970 for details on the taxability of fellowships.