Date: February 15, 2022
To: HR Council
From: Walter Miller, Director of Payroll Services
RE: Communication concerning a W-2 Issue
Please see the email below, which will be sent to affected employees later this afternoon concerning an issue that affected whether their Box 13 retirement box was checked on their 2021 W-2. This issue affects about 2,000 employees, most of whom were hired this year. The communication below also explains the impact on the employee’s tax filing.
Please feel free to reach out to me directly with questions.
RE: IMPORTANT UPDATE CONCERNING YOUR W-2
Dear UNC-Chapel Hill Employee,
I am writing you today to let you know that your W-2 has been identified as having an incorrect designation in the box 13 “Retirement plan” participation check box. Therefore, a W-2c (corrected W-2) will be issued to correct your box 13 Retirement plan status. Please note that for your tax filing and reporting purposes, you will need to use both the original W-2 and the W-2c (corrected W-2).
We will send another communication to let you know when this document is available in ConnectCarolina. Our goal is to deliver these documents no later than the end of February; however, we are working diligently to deliver it earlier. For those employees who have not consented to paperless W-2, paper forms will be mailed shortly after that notification.
We anticipate that most employees will not be impacted by this change. Per the IRS, if the Box 13 Retirement plan box is checked, “it lets the recipient know that depending on their filing status and modified adjusted gross income, they may not be entitled to a full deduction for their traditional IRA contributions.”
UNC does not administer any IRAs, so an employee would only make contributions to an IRA if they (or their spouse, if they are married) have set it up independently outside of their UNC employment. For further information, see the IRS’s webpage, “IRA Deduction Limits.”
If you have already filed your 2021 income tax return and think you may be impacted by this change, we suggest sharing this notice with your tax preparer or entering the change into your tax preparation software to determine if an amendment to your tax return is needed.
An FAQ concerning W-2c’s is available on the W-2 webpage under the “About W-2c (Corrected W-2).” If you have any other questions, please email payroll@unc.edu.
Sincerely,
Walter Miller
Director of Payroll Services