Last updated: April 2026

W2 Box 14 Codes: What Every Entry Actually Means

W2 Box 14 has no official code list. Your employer writes whatever they want there.

That single fact is why tax software chokes on it every February. It is why two workers at different companies can see the same letters and owe different taxes. And it is why half the questions I field in March start with a photo of this box. The IRS sets rules for Boxes 1 through 13. Box 14 is labeled "Other," and the instructions literally tell employers to use it for anything they want to report that does not fit elsewhere.

So when you see CASDI, RET, UNION, or a cryptic three-letter tag next to a dollar amount, you are looking at a label your payroll department picked. The label matters less than the category.

Why Box 14 Works Differently From Box 12

Box 12 has 29 standardized codes. DD is employer health coverage. W is HSA contributions. AA is Roth 401(k). Every employer uses the same letters, and tax software recognizes them automatically.

The "Other" box on Form W-2 has none of that. The IRS General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3 let employers report any information they think the worker needs, using whatever abbreviation fits in the space. One employer writes "HEALTH" for the employee share of health premiums. Another writes "MED." A third writes "125" because the deduction runs through a Section 125 cafeteria plan. Same dollars, three labels.

The practical consequence: tax prep software cannot auto-classify these entries. TurboTax and H&R Block both present a dropdown asking you to pick the category, and picking wrong can cost you a deduction or create a phantom one.

If the label is ambiguous, ask payroll. Do not guess.

The Five Categories That Cover 90% of Entries

Almost every entry falls into one of five buckets. Learn the buckets and the specific abbreviation stops mattering.

1. State-mandated disability and unemployment withholding

California, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Hawaii, and Washington all require some version of disability or paid family leave withholding that shows up here. The most common entries: CASDI (California State Disability Insurance), NJ SDI, NJ FLI, NY SDI, NY PFL, RI TDI, WA PFML. These amounts are deductible as state income taxes on Schedule A if you itemize. That alone is a reason to read the box carefully. Miss a $1,378 CASDI entry and you miss a real deduction.

2. Union dues and professional association fees

Labeled UNION, DUES, or sometimes UD. Since the 2017 tax law, these are no longer deductible on federal returns for most W-2 employees. Several states still allow the deduction, including California, New York, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Arkansas, Hawaii, Minnesota, and Mississippi. Check your state return before ignoring the number.

3. After-tax retirement and benefit contributions

Pre-tax 401(k) sits in Box 12 as Code D. The after-tax cousin often lands in Box 14 with a label like AFTER TAX 401K, NON QUAL, or RET. These contributions do not reduce taxable wages in Box 1, but they matter for basis tracking when you eventually roll the money out.

4. Employee share of health insurance

Code DD in Box 12 is the total cost of employer health coverage. The employee-paid portion, if run through a cafeteria plan, is already excluded from Box 1 wages and often gets reported here for transparency. Common labels: HEALTH, MED, 125, SEC125, CAFE. You cannot deduct it again. It is already gone from your taxable wages.

5. Educational assistance, moving expenses, and everything else

Employers use the last bucket for educational assistance under Section 127 (labeled EDU or TUITION), taxable fringe benefits, auto allowances, military differential pay, clergy housing, and charitable payroll deductions. Each has its own tax treatment. None is standardized.

The State Entries You Cannot Skip

Three states produce the bulk of mandatory entries and the bulk of confusion.

California. CASDI appears on every W-2 for California wages. In 2025 the rate was 1.2% with no wage cap, meaning a high earner can see a four-figure entry. It is deductible as state tax on Schedule A.

New York. Workers see two separate entries: NY SDI (capped at roughly $31.20 per year) and NY PFL (Paid Family Leave, a percentage of wages up to a statewide cap). Both are deductible state taxes.

New Jersey. The report typically shows NJ SDI, NJ FLI, and NJ SUI (yes, employees pay into unemployment in New Jersey, a rarity). All three are state tax deductions federally and do not reduce New Jersey state taxable wages.

When this is wrong: if you worked in multiple states during the year, the entry only covers wages earned in that state, not your full annual total. Reconcile against your pay stubs before claiming anything.

The Gotcha That Wrecks Tax Returns

The trap repeats every filing season. A worker at Employer A sees "RET $4,200" in the "Other" box and assumes it is a retirement contribution already excluded from wages. A worker at Employer B sees the exact same label and it is actually an after-tax contribution to a nonqualified plan, fully included in Box 1.

Same label. Opposite tax treatment. The software cannot tell them apart because the employer picked the label.

Workers double-deduct amounts that were already pre-tax and miss real deductions because the label looked generic. One taxpayer lost a $2,100 refund after categorizing CASDI as "Other, not on this list" in tax software instead of "State Disability Insurance."

Box 14 entries are not standardized. Treat every label as suspect until you confirm the category.

When the label is not obvious, the fix is boring but reliable: email payroll and ask, "What category is this entry, and is it pre-tax or after-tax?" A two-minute email prevents a two-hour amendment.

How to Read an Ambiguous Entry in Four Steps

Try this sequence when a label makes no sense.

First, pull your final pay stub of the year and look for a year-to-date line that matches the dollar amount. The stub usually uses the full name, not an abbreviation. "RET" on the W-2 might be "Roth 401(k) After-Tax" on the stub.

Second, compare the amount to Box 1 (wages) and Box 3 (Social Security wages). If Box 3 is higher than Box 1 by roughly the "Other" box amount, the entry is pre-tax for federal income tax but not for FICA. That pattern usually means a 401(k) or similar qualified deferral.

Third, check your state return instructions. California, New York, and New Jersey publish explicit tables showing which entries are deductible.

Fourth, if nothing matches, email your payroll department before you file. Getting an answer in February is free. Amending a return in June costs $200 at a preparer or hours of your own time.

What Tax Software Gets Wrong

TurboTax, H&R Block, and FreeTaxUSA all ask you to pick a category from a dropdown after entering a Box 14 line. The dropdowns are not consistent across products, and none of them include every possible employer label.

The safest default, if your entry matches a state disability or paid family leave program, is to pick that specific category. Picking "Other, not classified" for something like CASDI means the software will not add it to your Schedule A state tax total, and you lose the deduction.

For union dues, pick the union dues category even though the federal deduction is gone. Several state returns still pull from it.

For anything labeled health, medical, or 125: pick "Other, not on this list." Do not categorize it as a medical expense. It is already excluded from your wages and cannot be deducted twice.

The exception to all of this: if your employer provided a separate memo explaining the codes (some large employers do), trust the memo over the dropdown guess.

When Box 14 Signals a Payroll Error

A missing entry is sometimes a red flag. If you worked all year in California and the "Other" box shows no CASDI line, payroll likely failed to withhold it, which means the state will eventually ask you for the money directly.

If the amount looks wildly off from what your stubs show, request a corrected form. Employers issue a Form W-2c to fix errors on the original report, and they are required to do so at no cost to you.

An oversized entry can also indicate the employer miscategorized a deduction. Payroll systems occasionally dump the full annual health premium into the "Other" box when only the employee share belonged there, inflating the number by 3x. The worker thought they had a huge deduction. They did not.

Your Action Steps This Week

Pull your W-2 right now and read every line in the "Other" box out loud. If any label is not immediately obvious, write it down.

Match each entry to your December pay stub year-to-date totals. Discrepancies over $50 get an email to payroll today, not in April.

For California, New York, and New Jersey residents, confirm your state disability and paid family leave amounts are captured on Schedule A of your federal return. Use the IRS General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3 as the authority when payroll pushes back.

If a label still makes no sense after the pay stub check, do not guess in tax software. Read our breakdown of W-2 Box 12 codes first to rule out a misfiled entry, then compare your full form against the rest of the W-2 and reporting hub.

Finally, if your employer regularly produces ambiguous forms, the problem is usually their payroll provider, not the individual processor. Our payroll provider reviews cover which platforms handle Box 14 labeling cleanly and which ones dump raw deduction codes that confuse everyone downstream.

This is not legal or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional for your specific situation.