Greetings, please assist me according to the laws: If I need to file and pay taxes on the bonus lunches my past employers gave me, where on my tax return would I report it?

[Mike9241]

what are bonus lunches? if you mean at times your employer paid for lunch, then if they were taxable the employer should have included them on your w-2. most likely they were a non-taxable fringe benefit - for the convenience of your employer. 

[Vanessa A]

Why did your employer give you these meals?  If it was for their convenience (ex. to keep you from having to leave the facility to go eat), then this is not a taxable event as it is for the convenience of the employer. 

If the meals were not for the convenience of the employer, then this generally should be included in box 1 of your W-2.  If your employer did not include this in your W-2, then you would include it under Other Miscellaneous Income as Other Wages Received. 

To do this in TurboTax you will select the following (note your navigation may be slightly different due to differences in user experiences)

1. Federal
2. Wages and Income
3. I'll choose what I work on
4. Less Common Income
5. Miscellaneous Income
6. Other Reportable Income

[fellynbal]

I received bonus pay, and in addition to that bonus lunches for Perfect Attendance, also sometimes the Manager would buy us pizza for working hard or and maybe meeting goal(s), so that is like an award as well for my service to the company, but the only thing the employer included in my income was the bonus pay, and they paid me in separate checks for the bonus pay versus the other pay they gave me, and I read online about if you are paid separately for the bonus it is or and could be a 22% rate.  So, how could I get the tax percentage rated differently than the other pay being the company included them in one lump sum on my W-2?  Unless maybe they did tax if differently at first but when they reported it on the W-2 they just put all the pay in one lump sum.

[MaryK4]

The IRS requires your employer to withhold on bonuses using different methods than regular pay.  This is because a bonus is not guaranteed, so it is difficult to use the same calculations.  See How Bonuses Are Taxed - TurboTax Tax Tips & Videos - Intuit   @fellynbal 

[fellynbal]

Thanks to all of you for contributing to my posting.

Lord willing, I'm going to calculate a bonus check or so I received, using the 22% rate and see if that matches what they have for tax deductions.  However, IF they DID NOT deduct the 22% tax rate on any bonus', what would my duty be as a previous employee and tax payer as far as the law is concerned, would I need to get amended W-2's, or and do otherwise whatever that may be?  This has happened to me in more than one tax year, and I asked Turbo tax in the past about food and also prizes won as an employee and some or and all of the items they said on the lines that I did not need to report that, so I didn't.  If I need to amend any of my tax returns because I maybe was advised incorrectly will Turbo Tax back me up if I get penalized by the IRS?

Is communicating on the Community post a free service, or does Turbo Tax require me to pay for this tax advise?  Some assistance Turbo Tax charges for.

[Opus 17 · Accepted solution]

The community is free.

The question that has not been clearly answered is, Are the bonuses included in your W-2 box 1 wages?

If yes, then just file your tax return normally.   Don't worry about special withholding.  There are rules for withholding on bonuses, but ultimately no matter what is withheld, your taxes are only really calculated on your tax return.  You combine all your income, deductions and credits, calculate the tax owed, and then get credit for all your withholding and payments.  If your withholding is more than your tax, you get the difference back as your refund.  If too much or too little was withheld at the time the bonus was paid, that will all get brought up to date on your actually tax return. 

If the bonuses are not in your box 1 wages, then read on.

Generally, anything of value that you receive for your services is considered part of your wages and supposed to be included in your W-2 taxable income.  There are some exceptions for small gifts like t-shirts, and meals are sometimes excludable.  I would not worry about non-money bonuses unless they are of substantial value.

But cash or cash equivalents (like gift cards) definitely should be reported on your W-2.  If not, the correct procedure is to go to the "Other reportable income" section and look for an option to select "Wages that should have been on my W-2 but were not."  Turbotax will prepare the proper form.  The income will be added to your other income, deductions and credits to calculate your overall income tax, and you will also be charged 7.65% for social security and medicare that should have been withheld if the wages were correctly added to your W-2.  

[fellynbal]

I found this on a website: 

The percentage method. If your employer chooses this option, they will identify your bonus payment as separate income from your regular wages and automatically withhold 22% for taxes.

I have read that if the Bonus was paid separately from your regular pay that it is or and may be withheld tax at the 22% rate, but is that Mandatory or just A choice if you are paid separately for the Bonus income for it to be the 22% tax rate or and whatever the rate be at the time.  Mainly what I need confirmed is:  Regardless if the money Bonus' or and food bonus' which were normally paid to us at or close to the same time frame for Perfect Attendance and other rewards or and Bonus' whenever that was.  Which form or and line for my IRS Tax return, and State of New Jersey Tax return should that be reported on for the Correct tax rate(s), that applies to Bonus income paid in separate paychecks, but mixed together with my other income on the W-2.   I don't know if it makes a difference what tax rate the company used or not, but if the Bonus money is mixed in with the Regular income on Box 1 etc. of W-2, but I put the non money bonus' under Miscellaneous income, will they both get taxed at the correct tax rate or whatever applies to those items, or and is there another form or whatever that one or both need to be reported on so that the taxes will be correct ( the proper tax rate or and tax may or may not was already applied to at least the Federal).   

And if I over report any of the income, will that cause New Jersey to give me the incorrect amount back for a refund if I get one?  I don't want them to give me a larger refund than what I should receive if any refund.

Once a month if I had perfect attendance, then normally the company would provide us with a 6" Subway sandwich.  As far as the Manager buying us pizza for our hard work or and whatever, not sure if any round about time frame, maybe no more than once or twice a month, but the Manager did not do this in every month of the year, maybe a couple or a few months if not more in 2023.  I had this job when I lived in another state at least, and quit the job a little while before making  New Jersey my Domicile at least.

[AmyC]

My guess would be that the company felt it was a convenience to them to keep you happy and working. Congratulations on all the meals! 

If  there is any taxable value to you, it would have been in your w2 or come on a separate form for bonuses, the 1099-MISC. Since you have not received any additional paperwork, the meals are accounted for either in your w2 or in their records.

You should not need to do anything special. 

[fellynbal]

Greetings,

Thank you for replying.

The company did not even withhold close to 22% of my Federal tax for the Bonus at least most recent.  The bonus was $85.85/  Federal Income Tax  -$4.29 / Social Security Tax  -$5.32 / Medicare Tax  -$1.24/ Net Pay $75.00, and the they paid this in a separate pay check (direct deposit, but paid separately with a separate pay stub) but on the W-2 they lumped it together with the other income in Box 1 etc.  Do I need to have this fixed, or and maybe separate it myself on my tax returns for IRS and New Jersey?

[fellynbal]

And this job was when I lived out of state but I quit that job before I made New Jersey my Domicile

[KeshaH]

You don't need to do anything special to report this bonus. Just report as normal and it will be taxed at the same rate as your other income. You don't have to actually pay 22% tax on your bonus payments.

The 22% tax rate that you're seeing is for tax withholding only. However, when reported on your tax return it's all taxed at your normal tax rate. If the income had 22% tax withholding but your actual tax rate is lower than 22%, you will generally get the excess back in your refund.

[fellynbal]

how about the bonus and reward food that was provided, do I need to include that in Box 1 or should I just put it under miscellaneous income?  Wherever I put it, will it get the correct supplemental income tax applied to it, if that applies to this?

[KeshaH]

If it was considered taxable by your employer, they would have already included it in your box 1. You will only need to enter the W-2 as is. All of your income will be taxed at your normal tax rate. The supplemental rate is only for withholding.

[fellynbal]

Regardless to how much the withholding was from the employer, it won't cause me to get incorrectly taxed on my tax returns, whatever rate of tax or taxes should be applied to the tax returns it should be good, regardless if it is supplemental income or and regular income?