Tax Act Software Confused by Box 14 RETR Amount on W2 - Do I Need to Report It?

I'm doing my own taxes for the first time ever this year and I'm totally lost with this Box 14 stuff on my W2. There's this word "RETR" next to an amount of money ($4,875) and I have no idea what to do with it. When I got to this part in Tax Act, it's asking me about this Box 14 item but doesn't seem to know what RETR is either. The software just shows "RETR" and the amount and asks if I want to include it. Should I be reporting this? Is it taxable? My company never explained what any of this meant and now I'm worried I'll mess something up. Anyone know what RETR actually stands for and how I'm supposed to handle it in my tax return?

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18 comments

Edward McBride

•8M

Box 14 on your W2 is where employers list additional information that doesn't fit elsewhere on the form. "RETR" most likely stands for "retirement" and probably represents retirement plan contributions. The good news is that most Box 14 items are informational only and don't need to be reported separately on your tax return. If these are retirement contributions, they're probably already factored into your taxable wages in Box 1 of your W2. Your employer may have put this information in Box 14 to help you keep track of your retirement savings. If you want to be absolutely sure, you can check your pay stubs to see if there are any deductions labeled as "RETR" or something similar. The amount should match what's shown in Box 14. Or you could contact your HR department to confirm what the code means.

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Edward McBride

•8M

You raise a good point. RETR could potentially stand for different things depending on the employer. If it's a retraining expense or education reimbursement, the tax treatment might be different. If it's an educational reimbursement, it could be either taxable or non-taxable depending on the nature of the program. Some educational assistance programs allow employers to provide up to $5,250 tax-free, while amounts above that or for certain types of courses might be taxable and would already be included in Box 1 wages.

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Dana Doyle

•8M

I had a similar issue last year with Box 14 codes and found that taxr.ai was incredibly helpful in figuring it out. I was going back and forth trying to decipher what these random codes on my W2 meant and getting nowhere with generic Google searches. I uploaded my W2 to https://taxr.ai and it actually identified the code and told me exactly how to handle it in my tax software. It recognized that my RETR code was for retirement contributions that were already accounted for in my taxable wages and didn't need additional reporting. Saved me hours of frustration and worry about getting it wrong.

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Dana Doyle

•8M

I used it with H&R Block online, but it should work with Tax Act too since it's not integrated with the software - it just tells you how to handle specific entries, and you input that information yourself. For your security concerns, I totally understand being cautious. They use the same encryption that banks use, and you can actually black out your SSN and address before uploading if you're worried. It just needs to see the tax form boxes and codes to analyze them. They're really just providing information about how to interpret the tax forms, not filing anything for you.

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Liam Duke

•8M

Just wanted to update everyone - I tried out taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here and it was super helpful! I uploaded my W2 (blocked out my SSN first) and it immediately identified that RETR in my case was retirement contributions that were already properly handled in Box 1. It even explained why Tax Act was confused - apparently this code isn't standardized across all tax software. The site gave me clear instructions to simply skip adding this as an additional item since it was already factored into my W2 wages. Finished my taxes in like 30 minutes after being stuck on this for days!

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Rita Jacobs

•8M

If you're still having trouble figuring this out, you might want to just call the IRS directly and ask them. That's what I did last year with a weird code on my W2. Of course, getting through to them is a nightmare! I tried for days and kept getting disconnected. Then I found this service called Claimyr that got me through to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I used https://claimyr.com and they basically hold your place in line and call you when an agent is about to answer. The IRS person was surprisingly helpful and cleared everything up for me right away. Definitely worth it during tax season when wait times are insane.

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Rita Jacobs

•8M

They use a system that continuously redials until it gets through, and then it holds your place in the queue. It's like having someone sit there and keep calling for you until they get through. Once they're in the queue, they monitor it and call you when an agent is about to pick up. It's not a special connection - just automation that saves you from having to do it manually. It's definitely not BS - I was skeptical too! But it actually works. The time savings was huge for me. I spent hours trying to get through myself with no luck. With this, I just went about my day and got a call when an agent was ready. Way better than listening to that hold music for ages or getting randomly disconnected.

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Ben Cooper

•8M

I need to eat my words and apologize to @15. After posting my skeptical comment, I was still stuck on this RETR issue and getting nowhere with online searches, so I decided to try Claimyr out of desperation. It actually worked exactly as described. I got a call back about 45 minutes after signing up, and the IRS agent confirmed that in my case, RETR was retirement contributions that are already accounted for in Box 1 wages. She said I don't need to report it separately in Tax Act and could just skip that entry. The service saved me hours of frustration trying to get through on my own. Just wanted to post this update since I was so publicly doubtful before.

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Naila Gordon

•8M

Based on my experience, RETR almost always stands for retirement contributions. This is usually money that went into a 401k or similar plan. Good news is you don't need to report this separately - it's just informational. What matters most is what's in Box 1 (wages), Box 2 (federal tax withheld), and the other main boxes. Box 14 items are usually just there to give you extra detail. Tax Act probably gets confused because Box 14 can contain literally anything the employer wants to put there - there's no standardized set of codes, so the software doesn't know what to do with it.

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Naila Gordon

•8M

You can generally skip the Box 14 items in Tax Act when prompted. If the software specifically asks if you want to include it, select "No" or "Skip" (whatever option it gives you to not include it). If Tax Act forces you to categorize it, you can usually select something like "Other" and then indicate it's informational only. The key is to avoid having it added as additional income or a deduction since it's almost certainly already accounted for in your wages in Box 1.

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Rosie Harper

•8M

Your social security and medicare taxes are calculated based on your Box 3 and Box 5 wages, not Box 14 amounts. If RETR is retirement contributions, they might reduce your Box 1 wages (federal taxable income) but not necessarily your Social Security and Medicare wage bases. So check if your Box 3 and Box 5 amounts are higher than Box 1. If they are, it means your retirement contributions were excluded from income tax but still subject to FICA taxes, which is common for traditional 401k contributions.

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