Federal W-2 Box 14

[Mister P]

How can this still be an issue in 2024?  I found a post from 2023 about this exact issue.  

Wages & Income: W-2 error in block 14 code K should be: “K - Pretax Vision and Dental Deduction”

according to the Employee W-2 form.

And NOT:

“K – 20% excise tax – golden parachute” which in the 2022 Turbo tax program.

Still the same in 2023.  In fact, for Box 14, Codes K, V, and Y were all interpreted incorrectly by TurboTax.  Not only were they coded incorrectly, but if we hadn't caught the errors, we would have paid both federal and state income taxes instead of receiving refunds.  Let the buyer beware.  

FWIW, V was Pre-Tax FEHB Incentive not Nonstatutory stock options, and Y was Pre-Tax Flexible Spending Accounts not Deferrals under 409A nonqualified deferred comp plan.

Ugh.  Come on TurboTax.

[DavidD66]

Are you referring to Box 12 or Box 14 of your W-2?  The codes and descriptions you gave (e.g. Code K, is the Box 12 code for 20% Excise tax on Golden Parachute Payments) are the correct descriptions for box 12 codes.  Unlike Box 12, Box 14 does not have a specific list of codes for (non-railroad) employers. Items entered in box 14 must be labelled with a code that provides a brief description of the item. There are no standardized codes for box-14 because the federal government doesn't provide standardized codes for box 14 items, so employers can assign their own code that adequately describes the reported item.  According to the IRS instructions for Form W-2, Box 14: 

You may also use this box for any other information that you want to give to your employee. Label each item.  Examples include state disability insurance taxes withheld, union dues, uniform payments, health insurance premiums deducted, nontaxable income, educational assistance payments, or a minister's parsonage allowance and utilities. In addition, you may enter the following contributions to a pension plan: (a) nonelective employer contributions made on behalf of an employee, (b) voluntary after-tax contributions (but not designated Roth
contributions) that are deducted from an employee's pay, (c) required employee contributions, and (d) employer matching contributions.

[Mister P]

David -

That is incredibly helpful information.  Thank you.

Here's the thing.  I let TurboTax autofill my wife's W-2 from the federal government.  The autofill miscoded several entries into box 14.  From your explanation, I can see why this happened.  Box 14 on her actual W-2 includes the codes K, V, and Y, which are the codes you listed in Box 12.  But the government has attached those codes in box 14 to the items I listed in my original post.

Does that make sense?  Regardless, if we had not been suspicious about why we had a tax burden this year instead of a refund, all things being mostly equal to last year, we would have ended up paying quite a bit.  Even then, we had to drill down deep into our returns and compare with last year's to figure out the coding error.

I've made a note to go back to entering W-2's by hand.  I just think this is worth correcting.  Others might end up paying when they don't need to.

Penn