Taxes
Employee taxes are a complicated topic and the Payroll Office and Payroll Coordinators cannot give tax advice. In addition to the information provided on the employee page, here is some additional information for Payroll Coordinators.
Federal Withholding Tax
Most payments to employees will have Federal Withholding Tax deducted based on the IRS Semi-Monthly Withholding Tax Table, their IRS Form W4 Withholding Allowance Certificate and any pre-tax deductions currently in place. Exceptions to this are for supplemental payments made separately from salary payments.
- Scholarship/Fellowship (Stipend) Payments
- Additional information is can be found at our Stipend webpage.
- Valid earnings types to pay a scholarship fellowship include STP (Stipends/Fellowships) and SWB (Stipends with Benefits)
Social Security and Medicare
- IRS Student FICA exemption
- Valid earnings types typically include: SHR (Student Hourly Pay), GSA (Graduate Student Appointment with Benefits) and TRN (Post Doctoral Trainee)
- These earnings types are considered to be wages and are subject to federal withholding
Taxable Fringe Benefits
- Fringe benefits are compensation other than wages provided to an employee
- Report cumulative amounts given to an individual employee exceeding $75.00
- Email pr-tax@uw.edu and provide the following information in an Excel spreadsheet:
- EID
- Amount
- Name of employee
- Type of fringe benefit
- Inform employee that additional social security, medicare and federal withholding taxes will be deducted from their paycheck
- The following offices have further information:
State Income Tax - Employees Working Outside the State of Washington
- The Departmental Payroll Coordinator must notify the Payroll Office and Risk Management using the required form for all employees working outside the State of Washington.
- For Employees who are working in a state that has a state income tax, the University is required to withhold income tax for the states in which services are performed.
Expatriates - U.S. Citizens Working Overseas
- IRS Form 673 applies to U.S. citizens only. It does not apply to resident aliens.
- Submit completed form to Payroll Office at Box 359555.
- The University of Washington will not refund federal withholding taxes due to either late or incomplete IRS Form 673 information.
Year-End Information for Payroll Coordinators
- Address changes must be made by 4:00pm on December 24th to be reflected on the current year’s tax form.
- If an employee is unable access Employee Self Service, then the payroll coordinator should change the address.
If you have questions, please contact pr-tax@uw.edu.