How to Calculate Total Salary From a W-2

After your employer sends you an annual W-2 form, you should have all of the information you need to file your state and federal income tax forms. The W-2 form lists your earned income for the previous calendar year as well as various withholdings that occurred from your earnings. Usually, you will not need to calculate total salary from a W-2; however, there is one small calculation you may need to make before you enter your income into your income tax forms.

Instructions

1. Examine your W-2 form carefully. If you have more than one job, you should have a W-2 form from each employer.

2. Check the total taxable wage figure that appears in “Box 1” of the W-2 form(s). This figure represents your wages, tips and taxable benefits that you received from your employer throughout the entire year. This total may also include bonuses, commissions, vacation pay and severance pay.

3. Look for a figure in “Box 8” of the W-2 form(s). This figure represents allocated tips. If you earn tips in your employment, but your tip income fell below a specific percentage of your gross sales, your employer assigned additional tips to your income to bring the percentage up to the minimum--the allocated tip figure.

4. Add the figure from “Box 8” to the figure in “Box 1” to calculate the total salary from this W-2. Repeat the same process if you have more than one W-2.

5. Add the totals from each W-2 together to calculate your total salary from all employment for the calendar year.

6. Transfer the total income figure to Form 1040 income tax form in the box indicating “Wages, Salaries and Tips.”

References

• Banks.com; Information for IRS Tax Form W-2; Elizabeth Rosen
• Taxes in Depth: Your W2 Form