Tax Resources & Forms

Online Form W-2s

All Bowdoin employees will have access to an electronic version of their Form W-2 in Workday. To access your W-2, go to your Pay worklet, and select “My Tax Documents”. For more specific step-by-step instructions, see Viewing Form W-2s.

Paper Form W-2s

In addition to an electronic version, employees will receive a printed version of their Form W-2 unless they opt-out of this option.    

• Student employees: W-2’s will be sent to your Smith Union box.
• Faculty and Staff: W-2’s will be mailed to your home address.  Please be sure to check that we have your correct home address in Workday. Updates must be submitted before the end of the first week of January. Learn how.

To protect your personal information and save administrative costs, we encourage employees to opt-out of receiving a printed Form W-2.  

If you prefer NOT to receive a paper copy of your Form W-2, you can opt out of this option in Workday before the first week of January.  

Yes.  For step-by-step instructions, see Managing How You Receive the Form W-2.

If you misplace or do not receive your Form W-2, you can download a duplicate from Workday. To access your W-2, go to your Pay worklet, and select “My Tax Documents”.  For more specific step-by-step instructions, see Viewing your W-2 in Workday.  

Please contact Lynne Toussaint in the Controller’s Office so that a Form W-2C (Corrected Wage and Tax Statement) may be issued to you.

Email: ltoussai@bowdoin.edu

An incorrect address does not invalidate your Form W-2 and does not require a corrected Form W-2. Since it is essential that our HR/Payroll system has your correct address, please update your address through Workday.  

For tax purposes, wages are reported when they are paid, rather than when they are earned.  (i.e. hours worked through 12/30 but paid in January, will be included in the W2 earnings for the next year).

Pre-tax deductions are any amounts deducted from your gross earnings prior to tax calculations. They include 403(b) SRA retirement plan contributions, health, dental, short term disability and supplemental life insurance benefits, and flexible spending accounts.

The Form W-2 Box 1 amount represents federal taxable wages and other compensation. This would be different than the Gross Earnings on your paystub due to items that either decrease or increase your federal taxable wages such as FSAs for Medical and/or Dependent Care, health and dental insurance deductions, 403(b) SRA contributions, and group term life. Below please find a list of deductions/adjustments that impact your gross earnings for tax reporting purposes:

Excludes:

• SRA Fidelity, SRA Vanguard, SRA American Century
• Medical EE, EC, ES, FF
• Dental EE, EC, ES, FF
• Supplemental life insurance
• STD A

Includes:

• Group Term Life (GTL) premium value – this is the value of group term life insurance in excess of $50,000.

• Box 1 (Federal)

Excludes Deductions for:

• Medical Insurance 
• Dental Insurance 
• Vision Plan 
• Dependent Care Account
• Flexible Spending Account
• Supplemental Life Insurance 
• 403(b) SRA contributions (Fidelity, Vanguard, American Century)

Includes:

• Group term life (GTL)

Box 3 (Social Security) and Box 5 (Medicare)

Excludes Deductions for:

• Medical Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Plan 
• Dependent Care Account
• Flexible Spending Account 
• Supplemental Life Insurance

Includes:

• Group term life (GTL)

Box 12 may include a code with an associated amount. The most common codes reported on a Form W-2 issued by Bowdoin College are:

• C – Taxable value of group-term life insurance over $50,000 (included in boxes 1, 3 (up to social security wage base), and 5)
• E – Elective deferral under a section 403(b) salary reduction agreement
• BB – Designated ROTH contributions under a section 403(b) plan
• DD- Cost of employer-sponsored health coverage. The amount reported within Code DD is NOT taxable.

The Affordable Care Act requires employers to report the cost of coverage under an employer-sponsored group health plan. Reporting the cost of health care coverage on the Form W-2 does not mean that the coverage is taxable. This reporting is for information purposes only and will provide employees useful and comparable consumer information on the cost of their health care coverage. The amount reported includes both the portion paid by the employer and the portion paid by the employee. For more information, please refer to IRS.gov website.