If an employer pays your Social Security
tax and Medicare tax without withholding them
from your pay, that amount is considered pay and must be included in your gross
taxable income on your tax return.
Generally, premiums employers pay for group life insurance up to a face amount of
$50,000 and health and accident insurance are tax free and are not
reportable on your tax return.
Your employer provides you a
Form W-2 showing your total income and tax withholding for the tax year. If you didn't get your
Form W-2 see I didn't
get my W-2. What should I do?.
Total the wage and salary amounts reported on all your
Form W-2s. These appear in Box
1, "Wages, tips, other compensation". If filing a joint tax return, you must include
amounts reported to your spouse on Form W-2s. Enter the total amount on
Line 1 of Form
1040EZ
or
Line 7 of Form 1040A or
Form 1040. Also total the
"Federal Income Tax Withheld" from all Form W-2s which appear in
Box 2. Don't
confuse this with the Social Security tax and Medicare tax withheld which appear in
Boxes 4
and 6. Enter the total federal income tax withheld on Line 7 of
Form 1040EZ,
Line 38 of Form 1040A, or Line 61 of Form 1040.
Attach copy B of each Form W-2 at the spot indicated on the front of your
tax return.
Please note that Form 1099 income, while taxable, is generally not reported as wages or
salaries on your tax return.
If you receive another Form W-2 after your
tax return is filed, you must file an amended tax
return on Form 1040X.
