Linda,
Thank you for quick response. Here are some details.
The box 14 of the blank W2 from a university includes 4 items as fringe benefits: 1) Medical ins premium, 2) Life ins premium, 3) ADD ins premium, 4) School bus pass. The items 2) and 3) are combined as one amount. I believe, based on IRS employee compensation rules these non-cash benefits are non-taxable.
Also, using your suggestion, in Turbo tax software, I added this W2 and I entered a $1 in box 1 for wages, and entered all the box 14 entries as in the W2. The Turbo tax processed the federal and state taxes and it did not make any difference in the tax liability.
To confirm further, I checked the W2 of the same university from last year. Last year, I had the research grant salary like this year, plus I also had a small award which was considered as wages. So, for the award considered as wages, I was given a regular W2 with minor income in box 1 ($2000). But the box 14 of this award wages W2 had the same 4 items as this year's blank W2 (blank because no wages). It included all the fringe benefits that were listed on the pay stubs of the research grant salary that I got last year. The numbers were bigger because last year the research grant was for the full calendar year ( this year the research grant was for 6 months only). I had used the Turbo tax last year also ( used for 27 years now!). I checked the "All calculations file" from last year, it did document all the box 14 entries, however, it did not affect any tax liability. So, it proves that items in box 14 are not taxable ( at least by Turbo tax software) and also nontaxable according to IRS because they are non-cash and employee enticement or help attract employees, etc etc.
So, the bottom line is : the amounts in this year's blank W2 box 14 are not taxable and they should not be included in the income from the grant money. So what do you think? Am I reasonable in my analysis of the issue?
Thank you for you help and support from the Turbo Tax community service. Waiting for your response.
