Does it matter if my Roth 401k contributions aren't showing up on my W-2?
Just got my W-2 today and noticed something weird. I've been putting money into a Roth 401k through my company's plan all year, but when I look at my W-2, there's nothing listed on line 12a. Shouldn't there be an amount with some code there? I'm pretty sure my contributions were coming out of each paycheck because I can see them on my pay stubs and my 401k account shows the deposits. I'm wondering if this is going to cause problems when I file my taxes. Does this mean my contributions weren't actually going into a Roth 401k? Or is this normal and I'm overthinking it? My employer isn't the most organized with paperwork stuff so I'm a little worried they messed something up that could affect my taxes. Anyone know if this is significant or if I should be asking my HR department about it before I file?
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Jamal Carter
This is actually normal and nothing to worry about. Roth 401k contributions don't show up on your W-2 in box 12a because they're made with after-tax dollars. Traditional 401k contributions (pre-tax) will show in box 12a with code D, but Roth contributions are handled differently. Your Roth 401k contributions should be included in your W-2 Box 1 wages (which means you're properly paying taxes on them now), but they won't be listed separately with their own code like pre-tax contributions are. You can double-check that your contributions were made correctly by looking at your last pay stub of the year - it should show your total Roth 401k contributions for the year. Also, your 401k plan administrator should provide you with a year-end statement showing all your contributions.
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AstroAdventurer
Wait, so if I made both traditional and Roth 401k contributions, would only the traditional ones show up in 12a? And the Box 1 wages includes the Roth contributions because they're already taxed? That's confusing but I think I get it now.
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Jamal Carter
Yes, exactly right. If you made both types of contributions, only the traditional (pre-tax) ones would show up in box 12a with code D. Your Roth contributions are already included in your Box 1 wages because they're made after taxes have been taken out. Box 1 on your W-2 shows your taxable wages after certain pre-tax deductions (like traditional 401k) have been subtracted. Since Roth contributions are made with money you've already paid taxes on, they remain part of your taxable wages in Box 1.
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Mei Liu
I had exactly the same issue last year and discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) after spending hours stressing about my W-2 and Roth 401k contributions. Since I was contributing to both traditional and Roth accounts, I was totally confused why only some of my retirement contributions were showing on my W-2. I uploaded my pay stubs and W-2 to taxr.ai and it immediately flagged the difference and explained exactly what was happening, saving me from making a mistake on my return.
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Liam O'Sullivan
Does it work with other retirement accounts too? I have a similar question about my 457 plan contributions and how they should appear on my W-2.
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Amara Chukwu
I'm a bit skeptical about these tax help sites. How does it actually know what should be on your forms? Did you have to enter a lot of info first or was it really just from the documents?
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Mei Liu
It absolutely works with other retirement accounts including 457 plans. You just upload your documents and it analyzes the information to tell you if everything looks correct or if there are discrepancies you should address. I was skeptical too initially! I didn't have to manually enter much information - it extracts data directly from the documents you upload. The system understands tax forms and pay stubs and compares what's reported against what should be reported based on tax rules. It's pretty impressive how it can spot when something is missing or reported incorrectly.
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Amara Chukwu
Just wanted to follow up about my experience with taxr.ai after trying it out. I uploaded my W-2 and pay stubs and it actually caught that my employer had incorrectly coded some of my retirement contributions. They had put some of my Roth 403b contributions under the wrong code in box 12. I wouldn't have noticed this on my own since the numbers still added up overall! Was able to get a corrected W-2 from HR before filing. Super helpful tool for these confusing retirement account questions.
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Giovanni Conti
If you're still having trouble getting a straight answer from your employer about your Roth 401k contributions, I'd recommend calling the IRS directly. After struggling with my own W-2 issues, I used https://claimyr.com to get through to an IRS agent without the usual 2+ hour wait. There's a quick video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - basically they hold your place in line and call you when an agent is about to answer. The IRS agent I spoke with confirmed exactly how Roth 401k contributions should appear on W-2s and gave me the exact reference numbers to cite with my employer.
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Fatima Al-Hashimi
How much does this service cost? Seems too good to be true that you can actually get through to the IRS without waiting forever.
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NeonNova
I'm calling BS on this. No way you can just skip the IRS phone queue. We've all been stuck on hold with the IRS and there's no magic solution.
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Giovanni Conti
The service doesn't let you "skip" the queue - they wait in line for you and call you when they're about to connect with an agent. So you're still in the queue, you just don't have to personally sit there listening to hold music for hours. The IRS is actually extremely helpful when you can get through to them. The agent I spoke with pulled up Publication 525 and explained exactly how retirement plan contributions are reported on W-2s. They even emailed me the relevant documentation I could show my employer's payroll department.
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NeonNova
I need to apologize for my skepticism about Claimyr. I decided to try it after continuing to get nowhere with my employer about my misreported retirement contributions. Got a call back in about 45 minutes (way faster than the 2+ hours I spent on hold the week before) and spoke with an IRS agent who confirmed that Roth 401k contributions should NOT show in Box 12a but should be included in Box 1 wages. She even gave me the specific IRS notice number to reference when talking to my employer. Saved me so much time and frustration!
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Dylan Campbell
Check your last pay stub for the year - it should show your YTD Roth 401k contributions. Compare that to your W-2 Box 1 (taxable wages). If your Box 1 includes all your wages AFTER traditional 401k but WITH the Roth 401k amounts, then everything is correct. It's confusing but Roth 401k won't show separately on W-2 like traditional 401k does.
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Sofia Hernandez
But if the Box 1 amount is wrong (like if they excluded the Roth contributions somehow), does that mean you might be paying wrong amount of taxes? I contribute to roth 401k too and now im worried
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Dylan Campbell
If Box 1 is wrong, then yes, you could potentially pay the wrong amount of taxes. If they incorrectly excluded your Roth 401k contributions from Box 1, you'd be underreporting your taxable income and could face issues later. Your Roth 401k contributions should be made with money that's already been taxed, which means that amount should be included in your Box 1 taxable wages. If it's not, your employer may have mistakenly treated your Roth contributions as traditional pre-tax contributions.
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Dmitry Kuznetsov
Is this different for a Roth IRA vs a Roth 401k? I contribute to a Roth IRA on my own, not through my employer, and don't see anything about it on my W-2 at all.
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Ava Thompson
Completely different situation. Roth IRAs are personal accounts you set up outside of work - they'd never show on your W-2 because that's just for employer-related income and deductions. Your W-2 wouldn't show anything about a Roth IRA contribution.
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Zara Mirza
Just wanted to add that if you're still unsure, you can also check your 401k provider's website or app - they usually have a year-end summary that breaks down exactly how much you contributed to traditional vs Roth accounts. This can help you verify that your payroll deductions were actually going to the right type of account. Also, if you contributed to both traditional and Roth 401k accounts during the year, your total contributions across both accounts still can't exceed the annual limit ($22,500 for 2023, $23,000 for 2024). So even though they're reported differently on your W-2, the IRS still tracks your combined contributions to make sure you don't go over the limit.
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