LSU Accounting Services is making W-2 tax forms available online again this year in an attempt to make tax filing more convenient for University employees.
W-2s list wages and withholding information used by the federal government. Employers file the forms for any employee who has had income, social security or medicare taxes withheld, according to the Social Security Administration Web site.
The Payroll Division of Accounting Services sent a broadcast e-mail Nov. 6 to inform students, faculty and staff about the changes.
By default, employees receive paper W-2s.
Electronic W-2s for 2003 tax information will be available Jan. 15, 2004, but paper W-2s will not be available until Feb. 2, 2004.
Employees can choose whether they want to receive their forms electronically in two ways.
They can log on to PAWS accounts, expand the Employee Resources section and click on W-2 preferences. At this point, employees will click on either the electronic or paper option.
The second way is by clicking on the link provided in the broadcast e-mail. After clicking on the link, the process will be the same as going through the PAWS account.
Donna Dewailly, Director of Accounting Services Payroll Division, said early availability will be an advantage for University employees.
“This will allow individuals who are not waiting for additional tax documents to file their returns earlier,” she said. “[Electronic W-2s] will result in receiving any tax refunds sooner.”
The electronic option is available to all employees served by Payroll Services. University employees include workers at LSU’s main campus, LSU-Alexandria, LSU-Eunice, Pennington Biomedical Research Center and statewide AgCenter employees.
Gay Crain, assistant director of Payroll Services, said 22 percent of employees have opted to receive W-2s electronically.
“Of the 18,474 e-mails we sent, 4,080 have responded,” she said.
Alie Hunter, a marketing freshman, said she has an off-campus job but would prefer electronic W-2s.
“It’s a good idea because it’s easier,” she said.
But Tristi Bercegeay, a student worker and mass communication junior, said she does not like the idea of electronic W-2s.
“If it’s up on the Internet then anybody could find it if they wanted to have it,” she said.
Bercegeay said although she could receive the electronic W-2s two weeks earlier than the paper ones, she would still prefer hard copies.
“You have plenty of time to file,” she said.
If University employees who choose to receive their W-2s electronically change their minds, they simply access their PAWS accounts in the same previously listed ways and change the option back to paper W-2.
W-2s from the previous three years also are available via PAWS accounts.
To print a copy of a W-2, employees must have Adobe Acrobat on the computer they are using.
To receive paper W-2 copies directly from Payroll Services, employees must go to www.fas.lsu.edu/AcctServices/pay/forms.html. They will be charged $10 to process duplicate forms.