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W-2 Delivery Timeline
Your W-2 forms will be made available online or mailed to you no later than January 31, as required by federal law. While our internal process for creating, printing, and mailing the forms typically begins during the fourth week of January, we ensure compliance with the January 31 deadline.
How to Obtain a Copy of your W2
The process for obtaining a copy of your W-2 Form depends on your current employment status:
- For Active Employees:
- You can instantly access and print your W-2 Form through the employee self-service portal.
- Navigate to udel.edu/webviews and log in using your standard credentials.
- A link to view and print your W-2 will be available on the main page.
- For Former or Inactive Employees:
- To request a physical copy of your W-2 Form, you must submit an official request.
- Go to udel.edu/payroll/forms and complete the Payroll Documents Request Form.
- Please ensure you provide all required information. The form will be processed, and your W-2 will be mailed to you within two to three business days.
Box 1 of the W2 Form
The amount reported in Box 1 of your W-2, labeled "Wages, Tips, Other Compensation," is designed to reflect your total taxable earnings for the year, not your gross annual salary.
Your gross salary is often reduced by several common pre-tax deductions, such as contributions to a 403(b) retirement plan or payments for health care benefits. These pre-tax amounts are subtracted from your gross salary before the Box 1 taxable wage figure is calculated. For this reason, your gross annual salary will never appear in Box 1.
To view your exact gross annual salary for the year, please follow these steps:
- Access Web Views (if you still have login access).
- Navigate to your final pay stub of the year.
- In the "Hours and Earnings" box, review the Year-to-Date (YTD) earnings amount for your "Regular Pay."
Important Note: If you did not work a full calendar year, the YTD amount shown will be a prorated figure based on your start date, which may differ from the full annual salary stated in your original offer letter.
Box 14 of the W2 Form
The total in Box 14 represents your contribution to your state pension plan.
Fellowship Earnings/W2s
- Fellowships are not reported on a W-2: Universities generally do not report fellowship earnings on Form W-2 because these earnings are given to a student with no expectation of work in return. The IRS does not require the university to include these amounts on the W-2 form.
- Your W-2 is for wages: Your W-2 is generally only for income considered "wages" from employment (like a research assistantship or teaching assistantship, if applicable), not non-compensatory fellowship payments.
- Proof of earnings: Since the university does not provide a formal tax document for these earnings (for U.S. citizens/resident aliens), you can typically use your last pay stub of the year (or similar disbursement documentation) to show your year-to-date fellowship earnings.
- You must report your fellowship earnings: Even though the university does not report your fellowship earnings on a W-2, you are still responsible for reporting the taxable portion of these earnings when you file your personal tax return.
- What is NOT Taxable (Qualified Education Expenses): Fellowship earnings are non-taxable only to the extent they are used for qualified education expenses. These typically include:
- Tuition and fees required for enrollment or attendance.
- Course-related expenses, such as books, supplies, and equipment required for the courses.
- What IS Taxable (Non-Qualified Expenses): Any fellowship earnings received in excess of the qualified education expenses above are considered taxable income. This includes amounts used for items not directly related to your courses, such as:
- Rent and utilities
- Food and general living expenses
- Travel
- Review IRS Guidance: You should refer directly to the IRS for detailed information and reporting instructions. The official IRS resource on this topic is: IRS Topic no. 421, Scholarships, fellowship grants, and other grants.
W2 with an Incorrect Address
It is perfectly acceptable to use a W-2 form with an incorrect address. The IRS understands that people move during the year, so they do not require the current address to be on the form. The IRS only requires the name, the social security number, and the earnings and tax information to be correct.
Stipends and W2 Forms
If you performed work and received payment last year, but that compensation was not processed through Payroll, your earnings were likely disbursed through the Procurement department.
For total earnings exceeding $600.00 paid outside of the standard payroll system, you should receive a Form 1099 for tax reporting purposes.
To inquire about the status of your Form 1099, please contact the Procurement office directly at procurement@udel.edu
Low Federal Tax Withholdings on W2
The primary reason for little or no federal income tax being withheld from your paychecks is likely related to the selections you made on your most recent W-4 Form.
Specifically, if you claimed any dollar amount for dependents in Step 3 of the W-4 form, this election would have significantly reduced your overall federal tax liability for the year, resulting in lower (or zero) federal tax withholding from your pays.
If you wish to increase the amount of federal income tax withheld for the current year, you can submit a new W-4 Form.
To designate an additional withholding amount, please complete the following step on the new form:
- Go to Step 4(c), titled "Extra Withholding."
- Enter the specific additional dollar amount you would like the payroll system to withhold from each of your paychecks.
Maryland Residents
For employees who are residents of Maryland or Pennsylvania and have had state income taxes withheld, you will receive two separate W-2 forms:
- Form 1: This form includes your federal, Delaware earnings, and tax information.
- Form 2: This separate form contains all of your Maryland or Pennsylvania state earnings and tax information.
Both of your W-2 forms for the current year are available to view on the Web Views platform. Please log in at udel.edu/webviews to access the second form that includes your Maryland tax details.
Pennsylvania Residents
For Pennsylvania residents, the University will only generate a separate Pennsylvania W-2 form if you have officially identified yourself as a Pennsylvania resident on your W-4 form and have requested that Pennsylvania state taxes be withheld from your pay.
You should also ensure your official home address is updated to Pennsylvania by completing the HR Employee Demographic Data Form. Please note, however, that this change in demographic data does not affect the withholding or taxation on your paychecks.
If you moved between Pennsylvania and Delaware during the tax year and require your Pennsylvania-specific taxable earnings for filing, you will need to manually calculate this amount:
- Identify the Pay Period of the Move: Locate the pay stub that covers the period during which your residency change occurred (either moving from PA to DE or DE to PA).
- Determine Daily Earnings: Divide the gross earnings for that specific pay period by the total number of days in that pay period. This gives you your daily earnings rate.
- Calculate Prorated PA Earnings: Multiply your daily earnings rate by the number of days you were a resident of Pennsylvania during that specific pay period.
- Calculate Total Annual PA Earnings:
- If you moved out of PA: Add the prorated PA earnings (from Step 3) to the Year-to-Date (YTD) earnings shown on the pay stub immediately preceding the move.
- If you moved into PA: Add the prorated PA earnings (from Step 3) to the taxable earnings on all subsequent pay stubs for the remainder of the calendar year.