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W2 Digital Delivery FAQs

For districts using ESS, employees have the option to receive their W-2 digitally. Those who opt in will not receive the traditional 8.5” × 14” Z-Fold W-2; instead, they can log into their ESS account to view or download their W-2 at any time.

To support this process, SSDT provides a W-2 Digital Delivery Checklist (located under USPS Appendix > Checklists) which includes setup steps for both USPS and ESS to allow W-2 Digital Delivery, as well as a helpful FAQ section. In ESS, users must acknowledge their W-2 delivery preference—either consenting to or revoking digital delivery. New ESS users will be prompted to complete this acknowledgement at first login; once submitted, they will not be prompted again.

Recently, SSDT has received an increased number of USPS-related questions regarding digital W2s, particularly around identifying employees who elected digital delivery, handling former employees who previously opted in, and whether USPS offers ways to print or obtain counts of digital-delivery employees. With W-2 season just around the corner, we’ve highlighted answers to these USPS-related questions below. These, along with many additional ESS FAQs, can also be found at the end of the W-2 Digital Delivery Checklist.

• How can we identify the employees who have elected to receive their W2’s digitally?

  • Go to the Employee grid in USPS. Under More, add the W 2 Digital Delivery fields - Digital Only W2 and Digital W2 Agreement Timestamp fields to the grid. Once the W2 digital fields have been added to the grid, filter the Digital Only W2 field for the value equaling true. From here, if desired a report can be generated by selecting the Report option.

• Are there any recommendations for W2 Digital Delivery employees who may have left the district during the year?

  • First and for most, it is suggested to add a step to your exiting employee checklist that confirms how the employee wishes to receive their W2. This will allow the employee to make any changes to the delivery method ‘before it’s too late.'

  • If a copy of the employee’s W2 is needed, go to the File Archive and click the W2 Archive tab. In the Year filter field, enter the appropriate year. Click the view icon. A pop up window will be displayed listing all W2’s for that calendar year. Find the employee and click the generate/download option. The W2 form can then be printed.

• Is there a way to print a copy of all my W2’s for the calendar year (even those receiving their W2’s digitally)?

  • Of course! Simply go to the W2 Reports and Submission option. When selecting the Forms or XML option, an option called ‘Include Digital Only W2 Employees’ will be displayed (this checkbox is located below the Selected Employees grid). Mark the checkbox and click the Generate W2 Forms/Generate XML Output option. For more details on generating employer copies of W2’s, please refer to Step 38 of our USPS Calendar Year-End Closing Checklist.

• Is there a way to get a count of those employee’s electing to receive their W2’s digitally and those receiving a physical W2 form?

  • Yes! A new count was added to the bottom of the W2 Report and Submission Report. These totals included a total for the number of employees, total number of W2 forms, total number of physical W2 forms to be printed, and total number of digital W2 forms.

Is Your Pickup Being Picked Up? - Part 2

As mentioned in our October newsletter, our November newsletter brings more discussion on the topic of ‘pick up.’ This month we turn our focus to ‘Medicare pickup.’

What is Medicare pick up?

Medicare pickup is when the board agrees to pay a portion or all of the employee’s share of Medicare contributions.

How is Medicare pick up is calculated?

• First, the system locates all qualifying annuity amount(s). The total qualifying annuity amount is determined by:

  • Finding all Payroll Item Configuration records with the Type equaling Annuity and the Annuity Type equaling Section125NonWages.

  • Finding all Payroll Item Configuration records with the Type equaling Health Savings Account.

• Next, the system calculates the total Medicare applicable gross. The total Medicare applicable gross is determined by:

  • Full Medicare Pickup:

    • (Gross - Total Annuity Amount)/100.00% - the amount being paid by the board, or 1.45%.

  • Partial Medicare Pickup:

    • (Gross - Total Annuity Amount)/100.00% - the amount being paid by the board).

How Does This Look?

An employee’s gross wages are $6,049.25. Their section 125 annuity amount total $346.64 and they do not have a HSA. Medicare Payroll Item would have the Rate field with the value the employee is paying and the Employer Rate value with the amount the board is paying on the employee’s behalf. The total of the Rate field and the Employer Rate field should equal 2.90.

Full Medicare Pickup:

• Rate value equals 0.00.

• Employer Rate value equals 2.90.

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100.00% - 1.45% = 98.55%

($6,049.25 Total Gross - $346.64 Total Section 125 Annuities)/98.55% = $5,786.52 Medicare Applicable Gross

$5,786.52 X 2.9% = $167.80 Medicare Board Amount Withheld

Partial Medicare Pickup:

Employee is responsible for 0.45% and the board pays 1.00% of the employee’s typically 1.45%.

• Rate value equal 0.45

• Employer Rate value equals 2.45

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100.00% - 1.00% = 99.00%

($6,049.25 Total Gross - $346.64 Total Section 125 Annuities)/99.00% = $5,760.21 Medicare Applicable Gross

$5,760.21 X 2.45%% = $141.12 Medicare Board Amount Withheld

$5,760.21 X 0.45% = $25.92 Employee Amount Withheld

Helpful Tips (to ensure your pickup is set up properly and at the appropriate time):

• Use payroll templates.

• Add creating pickup records to any and all checklists. For example - New hire checklists, Exiting Employee checklists, Payroll checklists, Calendar Year End checklists, Fiscal Year End checklists.

• Verify the information any chance you can. For example - Payroll reports, Pay Item Detail reports, Payable Payment reports, Payables Summary reports, Retirement reports, Quarter reports.

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• SSDT Wiki

• October Release Recap

• Newsletters Home Page

• SSDT Documentation

• ESS Documentation

• Inventory Documentation

• IPDP Documentation

• USAS Documentation

• USPS Documentation

• SSDT YouTube Channel

• ESS YouTube Playlist

• Inventory YouTube Playlist

• IPDP YouTube Playlist

• USPS YouTube Playlist

• USAS YouTube Playlist

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This month’s spotlight features our generic Calendar Year-End (CYE) USPS and USAS video recordings. These videos walk through the standard CYE procedures and include recorded demonstrations of the available options in both systems.

Please note that these videos cover generic procedures. If your district follows a custom CYE checklist provided by your ITC, please contact them to ensure you are using the correct version during year-end closing.

Did You Know?

HSA Submission File Update

When creating a HSA submission file, you are now prompted for a date. The date will default to the date entered in the Pay Date field when the payroll was initialized. The HSA Submission, Pay Date can be changed if needed by selecting the appropriate date from the calendar icon.

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As mentioned in our feature article, for those districts currently using ESS, there is a W-2 Digital Delivery Checklist available in the USPS Checklists area of the Appendix that provides step-by-step guidance for setting up electronic W-2 delivery in both USPS and ESS. It’s a quick way to ensure all required tasks are completed and nothing gets missed. Check it out if you haven’t already!

Did You Know?

IPDP Plan Activity Report

The Plan Activity Report is a new feature for Individual Professional Development Plans. Users can generate a report showing the Plan Focus details, Goals, and Activities listed by license for their current or previous Plans by navigating to My Plan > All Plans grid and clicking the Print Plan Icon.

Committee Members can generate this report for any Plans listed on the District Plans grid.