WA state paid medical leave benefit - how to calculate the taxable income amount?

[user17706704064]

Hello.

I took the paid medical leave (PML) in 2025 and received the payment from the state (WA).

According to the state, they do not provide 1099 for PML.  I understand PML benefit is taxable income for the employer paid portion.   As I was searching for the information on how to calculate the taxable portion, I see below information and would like to verify if this is correct.

"For Employers with 50 or more employees, the premiums are 0.92% of each employee’s gross wages (not including tips), up to the Social Security cap.  The breakdown for 2025 is Employers pay 28.48% of the total, and Employees pay 71.52%.  This suggests that 28.48% of your medical benefits would be taxable income.  But Wait!  That’s not the whole story.  If you dig a little deeper into the calculation of premiums, it turns out that Family Leave premiums and Medical Leave premiums are not divided equally, even though they are paid together as part of the same tax return filed with Employment Security.  In fact, the Family Leave portion of the premium comes entirely out of the Employee share.  The Family Leave portion accounts for 48.22% of the total premium per employee, with the remaining 51.88% considered Medical Leave.  

We don’t really care about the Family Leave portion for our purposes here (it’s always taxable income), but suddenly the amount of Medical Leave benefits that are taxable just got larger.  Instead of paying 28.48% of Medical Leave premiums, large employers in Washington are actually paying 55.00%!!  That means 55% of Medical Leave benefits paid under this program should be considered part of a taxpayer’s gross income."

If this is correct & hypothetically, if I received $10K for PML, then $5,500 is taxable income.  And I can enter this as other income when filing with Turbo Tax program.  Did I understand correctly? 

I'd appreciate very much for your comment & advice.  Thank you.

[AmyC · Accepted solution]

Yes, logically sound. Follow these steps: 

• Check your w2 as the taxable portion could be in box 12 with a code J as well as included in income in box 1. If this is the case, it is already being taxed and you don't need to do anything.
• If it is not on the w2, you will need to report the taxable portion of the income. 
  • You can enter it under Miscellaneous Income 
  • Locate Other reportable income and enter.
  • This allows you to describe the taxable portion.

[user17706704064]

I don't see any information on my W2 - Box 12 J.  I will include 55% of PML benefit as the other reportable income when I work on my income tax.   Thanks so much & you took away a huge headache for me. Have a great day!