Payroll

Get your W-2 in the mail

Your W-2 tax form(s) will be mailed to the address you have on file before Jan. 31 and will be available in the employee portal.

Didn't receive your W-2?

  • Current employees: Access your W-2 in the employee portal using the instructions below. Please do not submit a W-2 Reissue Request Form.
  • Former employees: Access your W-2 via the ADP portal. Learn how to register for an account.
  • Student employees: Students who only received stipends (scholarship, fellowships and grants) in 2023 will not receive a W-2 and are expected to self-report amounts, if taxable. A W-2 will be issued if they held a position with taxable earnings.

Get your W-2 in employee portal 

W-2s will be available in the employee portal soon. Follow these steps to view and download a copy: 

  1. Log into my.cu.edu.
  2. Click on the CU Resources Home dropdown menu at the top, left of the screen.
  3. Select My Info and Pay.
  4. Click the W-2 tile. Your W-2 contains personal information, so you must verify your identity to access it. 

Note: If you see two W-2s (CU and CUR), submit both forms with your tax filing.

How to read your W-2

Box 1 - Wages, Tips, Other Compensation

This amount includes total wages and other compensation paid during the calendar year. This includes taxable fringe benefits (e.g., the value of group-term life insurance in excess of $50,000, tuition benefits greater than $5,250.00, non-cash rewards, gifts and taxable moving reimbursements). Pretax deductions/ premiums, for insurance plans (health, dental and flexible spending accounts for health or dependent care benefits) and contributions to the retirement plan will reduce your total wages.This box reports your federal taxable wages. 

Note: Wages exempt from tax under a Tax Treaty will not be included in Box 1 but will be reported in Box 2 of Form 1042-S. 

Box 2 - Federal Income Tax Withheld

This is the amount of federal income tax withheld from your wages reported in Box 1. Your W-4 was used to determine the tax withholding rate. Your filing status is available on the employee portal and on your paystub (aka, your pay advice).

Box 3 - Social Security Wages

This amount includes total wages and other compensation plus fringe benefits, minus pre-tax deductions for health insurance and any flexible spending accounts up to the annual maximum Social Security wage base. This box can differ from Federal wages (Box 1) as retirement plan contributions do not reduce the Social Security wages reported in Box 3.

The following groups are exceptions and are not subject to Social Security:

  • PERA employees
  • Full-time undergraduate student employees (enrolled in at least six credit hours)
  • Full-time graduate student employees (enrolled in at least three credit hours)
  • Nonresident alien employees

Box 4 - Social Security Tax Withheld

This amount represents 6.2% of the Social Security wages (Box 3) withheld from Social Security wages during the year.

Box 5 - Medicare Wages and Tips

The wages subject to Medicare tax are the same as those subject to Social Security tax; however, there is no wage limit for the Medicare Tax.

Box 6 - Medicare Tax Withheld

This amount represents 1.45% of the total Medicare wages (Box 5) during the year.

However, employees who earn more than $200,000 (single) or $250,000 (married filing jointly) are also subject to an additional 0.9% Medicare tax.

Box 10 - Dependent Care Benefits

This amount is the total amount paid into your dependent care flexible spending account for the year.

Box 12 - See Notice to Employee

Certain payments are reported in Box 12 along with alpha codes. The Notice to Employee on the back of your Form W-2 shows a complete listing of the codes used. The following codes are among the most common.

  • 12 C - Taxable Cost of GTL (Group Term Life): The calculated value of group-term life insurance exceeding $50,000 that has been added into Box 1 as "other compensation."
  • 12 E - Section 403(b) Salary Reductions: Your total elective deferrals to your CU 403(b) Voluntary Retirement Plan.
  • 12 G - Section 457(b) Contributions: Any amount you contributed to the PERA 457 Plan.
  • 12 P - Excludable Moving Expense Reimbursements:  Non-taxable moving expenses for which you were reimbursed directly (not included in taxable wages in Box 1).
  • 12 DD – Cost of Employer-Sponsored Health Coverage: This is the cost of your employer-sponsored health coverage. The amount reported is not taxable. This figure includes both the employee- and employer-paid health insurance premiums, and is for informational purposes only.

Note: Form W-2 only allows space to report four "Box 12" codes. Employees with more than four codes will receive two W-2 forms. The second form will only include additional Box 12 codes.

Box 13 - Retirement Plan

This box is checked when an employee is an active retirement plan participant (CU 401(a) Retirement Plan or the Public Employees' Retirement Association (PERA) Retirement Plan) for any part of the year. When checked, special limits may apply to the amount of IRA contributions that an employee may deduct.

Box 14 - Other

This box is used to report miscellaneous information, such as:

  • FAMLI - This figure reflects employee premiums paid into CU's FAMLI program. It does not reflect FAMLI leave use.
  • Vehicle - The taxable value of the personal use of company-provided vehicles
  • PreTax - The total amount of pretax deductions from your cafeteria plan elections
  • Moving expenses - Acard
  • Moving expense - Taxable
  • Business Expense – Taxable
  • Imputed Cash Award
  • Be Colorado Move. Payment

Box 16 - State Wages, Tips, Etc.

This amount equals Box 1 and should be used with your state income tax return.

Box 17 - State Income Tax Withheld

This is the amount of state income tax withheld from your wages, reported in Box 16.

Box 18 - Local Wages, Tips, Etc.

This amount is your local taxable wages.

Box 19 - Local Income Tax Withheld

This is the amount of local income tax withheld from your wages, reported in Box 19. You may receive multiple W-2 forms if you worked in more than one location within the tax year (e.g., Denver and Aurora).

The W-4 allows you to determine how much federal income tax is withheld from your pay. At the start of each year, check your W-4 and make any needed adjustments. This is especially relevant if you got married, had a child or experienced other changes in your tax status.

Only current employees who would like to change their W-4 withholdings, those who filed as tax-exempt in 2023, and new hires will need to submit the new form.

Learn more about the 2024 Form W-4 and utilize the IRS Tax Estimator to help determine your withholding.

Access your W-4

Follow these steps to access and update your W-4:

  • Log into your employee portal.
  • Click on the CU Resources Home dropdown menu at the top, left of the screen.
  • Select My Info and Pay from the dropdown menu.
  • Click the W-4 tile. You’ll be prompted to verify your identity before you can access this information.

Additional information

Changes made to the tax tables may affect your tax liability for 2024. We encourage you to use the IRS Tax Estimator to determine if you should complete a new Form W-4 for 2024.

Employee Services does not provide tax advice. Please contact your tax advisor with any questions.

2023 tax year 1042-S forms will be mailed soon

Non-U.S. citizens who had one or more of the following in 2023 will be sent a 1042-S form in late January or early February:

  • Tax treaty-exempt income
  • Non-qualified scholarship payments
  • Taxable non-wage compensation

If you have not received your form by the third week of February, please submit a 1042-S Reissue Request Form to Employee Services using our secure online form.

Individuals with 1042-S reportable income should wait to receive this important tax reporting form before filing personal income tax returns. In some cases, non-resident employees may receive Form W-2 as well, if receiving taxable wages.

How to read your 1042-S

See this interactive graphic to learn more about Form 1042-S.

Questions?

Please contact an international tax specialist at intltax@cu.edu.

By March 2, we will mail you the IRS Form 1095-C ACA Tax Document, which reports whether the health coverage CU offered you for tax year 2023 was affordable under Affordable Care Act standards. You do not need this form to file your taxes, but you should save it with your tax return.

Request a replacement 1095-C.

Select the toggles below for an explanation of each line within the form.

Lines 1-6

These lines report your name, Social Security number and residence. 

Lines 7-13

These lines report the name of your employer and its ID number and location, and the CU phone number to call if you have questions about this form. 

Line 14

The code entered on this line describes what, if any, kind of coverage CU offered you and/or your spouse and/or dependents in the last tax year.

Benefits-eligible CU employees who were enrolled in CU plans during the tax year will see one of the following codes:

1A

Minimum essential coverage providing minimum value was offered to you with an employee contribution for self-only coverage equal to or less than 9.5% of the 48 contiguous states' single federal poverty line and minimum essential coverage offered to your spouse and dependent(s) (referred to here as a Qualifying Offer). This code may be used to report for specific months for which a Qualifying Offer was made, even if you did not receive a Qualifying Offer for all 12 months of the calendar year.

1B

Minimum essential coverage providing minimum value was offered to you and minimum essential coverage NOT offered to your spouse or dependent(s).

1C

Minimum essential coverage providing minimum value was offered to you, and minimum essential coverage was offered to your dependent(s) but NOT your spouse.

1D

Minimum essential coverage providing minimum value was offered to you, and minimum essential coverage was offered to your spouse but NOT your dependent(s).

1E

Minimum essential coverage providing minimum value was offered to you, and minimum essential coverage was offered to your dependent(s) and spouse.

1F

Minimum essential coverage NOT providing minimum value was offered to you, or you and your spouse or dependent(s), or you, your spouse, and dependent(s).

1G

You were NOT a full-time employee for any month of the calendar year, but you were enrolled in self-insured, employer-sponsored coverage for one or more months of the calendar year. This code will be entered in the All 12 Months box on line 14.

1H

No offer of coverage. (You were NOT offered any health coverage or you were offered coverage that is NOT minimum essential coverage.)

Line 15

This line reports your share of the lowest-cost monthly premium for self-only, minimum essential coverage that CU offered you. In the university's case, this is CU Health Plan - High Deductible, which has an employee-only premium of $0. (This amount may not be what you paid for coverage if, for example, you're enrolled in a plan other than CU Health Plan - High Deductible, or if you enrolled in employee + spouse, employee + child(ren), or family coverage.)

It reflects an amount only if code 1B, 1C, 1D or 1E is entered on line 14.

If you were offered coverage but not required to contribute any amount toward the premium, this line will report “0.00” for the amount.

Line 16

This code provides the IRS information to administer the employer-shared responsibility provisions. With the exception of code 2C, which reflects your enrollment in CU's coverage, none of this information affects your eligibility for the premium tax credit. For more information about the employer shared responsibility provisions, see the IRS website.

Lines 17-22

These lines report the name, Social Security number (or tax identification number for covered individuals other than the employee listed in Part I), and coverage information about each individual (including any full-time employee and non-full-time employee, and any employee's family members) covered under a CU Health Plan, if the plan is self-insured.

A date of birth will be entered in column C only if a Social Security number or tax identification number is not entered in column B.

Column D will be checked if you were covered for at least one day in every month of the year.

For those who were covered for some but not all months, information will be entered in column E, indicating the months for which they were covered. If there are more than six covered individuals, see the additional covered individuals on Part III, Continuation Sheet(s).

Questions? Visit the IRS website, or call Employee Services at 303-860-4200.