The Payroll Office is responsible for sending out three different IRS tax forms. Form W-2s are sent to UW employees who received some form of wage or compensation in the prior calendar year. Form 1042-Ss are sent to UW employees who are Foreign Nationals who have claimed a tax treaty or code exception to taxation. Form 1099-Rs are sent to UW retirees who receive RET payments directly from the University of Washington (not Washington State Department of Retirement Systems).

Note that UW Foreign National employees who live and work outside of the United States (and who have submitted the relevant paperwork) will not receive any United States tax forms related to their work performed overseas. For more details, visit the Ensuring Correct Taxation if Working Outside the US section of the Tax Withholding Information For Foreign Nationals page.

1098-Ts are distributed through Student Fiscal Services (SFS). You can download your 1098-T tax form at their website.

The Form W-2 is the tax form sent by the employer to both the IRS and the employee reporting an employee’s earned wages and other salary information, as well as the amount of taxes the employee had withheld from each paycheck in the prior calendar year. Employees use the information found on the Form W-2 when filing their tax return.

Employees use the W-4 to indicate how much federal withholding tax the employer should deduct from each paycheck; the Form W-4 is filled out by employees, usually during the onboarding process. Employees determine their own amount of withholding.

Yes, you can update your withholding elections in Workday at any time. For step-by-step guidance, refer to the Update Federal Withholding Elections User Guide. Any changes you make will go into effect immediately, though depending on where the University is in the payroll cycle, the change may not be reflected in your paycheck until the second pay period after you made changes. For more information about withholding calculations, visit the IRS website: IRS Withholding Tables Frequently Asked Questions.

Typically any new deduction changes (eg, increased benefit premium amounts, changes in FSA and/or DCAP contributions, etc) will be reflected in the first paycheck of a new tax year. Additionally, if an employee had met the Social Security max limitation in the prior tax year, and therefore Social Security tax payments had stopped upon meeting that limit, the employee may notice their Social Security deductions starting up again in January. Changes to IRS tax tables may also result in changes to an employee’s federal withholding, which would be reflected in the first paycheck of a new tax year.

You will want to verify you entered the correct amounts from your W-2s into the correct fields in TurboTax. People often incorrectly enter the amount from Box 1 on the W-2 into their Social Security Gross and/or Medicare Gross fields in TurboTax or other tax-help software; make sure you entered the amount from Box 3 for Social Security and the amount from Box 5 for Medicare. The Social Security and Medicare amounts on your W-2 are auto-calculated using federally mandated percentages.

Yes. Because the University of Washington has an entirely different Tax ID number, you will have to pay Social Security. Your CPA or other tax advisor may have information about recouping excess Social Security contributions.

Federal tax law changed in 2013 when the Internal Revenue Service and the US Department of Treasury ruled that same-sex couples, who were legally married in jurisdictions that recognized their marriages, were to be treated as married for federal tax purposes. These couples may also be known as Qualified Domestic Partners (QDPs) under Washington State law.

This ruling applies only to couples who are considered legally married and does not apply to Registered Domestic Partnerships.

If you are in a Registered Domestic Partnership, and your partner and/or child(ren) do not qualify as eligible dependents under IRC 152 (PDF), the UW must report the cost of the insurance that UW provides for these dependents and the insurance contributions you make as wages on your IRS Form W-2 (displayed in box 1, 3 and 5). This is called “imputed wages.”

The UW determines IRC 152 eligibility based on the information you provide on your Declaration of Tax Status form, which is completed at the time you enroll in a PEBB health insurance plan, or at any time you change your enrollment due to a qualifying Life Event.

If you determine that your Declaration of Tax Status was incorrect for the prior tax year or requires updating, contact the Payroll Office.

For more information about Qualified Domestic Partner tax status, refer to the Dependent Verification page.

If your work location is outside of the United States, follow these steps to access your tax documents in Workday:

1. Log into Workday using the Sign in to Workday link at the top right of this page.
2. In Workday, from the “Person” icon at the top right of the screen, select View Profile.
3. Select the Pay tab on the left of the screen, then select the Tax Documents tab on the top of the screen.
4. Select the View/Print button under Employee Copy, and then select Notify Me Later on the “Your request is being processed” window. (Please note: you may need to “allow pop-ups from Workday” if your web browser blocks pop-ups).
5. Your W-2 will then be delivered to your Notifications in Workday (select the “bell” icon at the upper right corner).

If you have a Certificate of Foreign Status, for additional guidance, refer to the Ensuring Correct Taxation if Working Outside the US section of the Tax Withholding Information For Foreign Nationals page.

If you no longer work at the University, you can still access your W-2s. However, the way you will access them depends on how long it has been since you were a UW employee. Visit the Resources For Former Employees page for guidance.