Does My W2 Show 401k Contributions?

A W-2, or Wage and Tax Statement, serves as a comprehensive summary of an individual’s annual earnings and the taxes withheld by their employer. Understanding the details presented on this form is important for accurate tax filing. For many, deciphering how retirement contributions, such as those made to a 401(k) plan, are reflected on this document is a common point of inquiry.

How Your 401(k) Contributions Appear on Your W-2

Employee contributions to a 401(k) plan are reported on your W-2 form. These amounts are found in Box 12, which reports various types of deferred compensation and other income. Box 12 is divided into several sub-boxes (12a, 12b, 12c, 12d), each containing a letter code followed by a dollar amount.

For elective deferrals to a traditional 401(k) plan, the specific code used in Box 12 is ‘D’. This code ‘D’ will be accompanied by the total dollar amount you contributed to your 401(k) plan throughout the year. For example, if you contributed $5,000 to your 401(k), you would see “D 5000.00” in one of the Box 12 sections.

Impact on Your Taxable Income

Traditional 401(k) contributions are considered pre-tax contributions, which means they reduce your taxable wages for federal income tax purposes. This reduction is reflected in Box 1 of your W-2, labeled “Wages, tips, other compensation.” The amount in Box 1 will be lower than your gross wages by the amount of your traditional 401(k) contributions.

While traditional 401(k) contributions reduce your federal taxable income, they do not reduce the income subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes. Therefore, the amounts reported in Box 3 (“Social Security wages”) and Box 5 (“Medicare wages and tips”) of your W-2 will be higher than the amount in Box 1. This difference highlights the tax-deferred nature of traditional 401(k) contributions, where income tax is postponed until retirement, but Social Security and Medicare taxes are paid in the year the wages are earned.

Reporting Different Types of 401(k) Contributions

Beyond traditional 401(k) contributions, other types of retirement savings also appear on your W-2, though with different codes and tax implications. Roth 401(k) contributions, for instance, are reported in Box 12 with code ‘AA’. Unlike traditional contributions, Roth 401(k) contributions are made with after-tax dollars, meaning they do not reduce your current taxable income in Box 1. This allows for tax-free withdrawals in retirement, provided certain conditions are met.

Employer contributions to your 401(k) plan, such as matching contributions or profit-sharing contributions, are not reported in Box 12 of your W-2. These contributions are considered part of your employer’s expense and are not directly included in your taxable wages as an employee. Employers report these contributions on their own tax forms, such as Form 5500, which provides information about the plan itself. The W-2 primarily focuses on your direct wages and employee-elected deferrals.