I was looking at a friend's W-2 once, helping her figure out why her tax refund was smaller than expected. In Box 14, her employer had typed "PASUI" and a dollar amount. "What's PASUI?" she asked. I had no idea. Her tax software didn't recognize it either — it just offered a dropdown with a hundred options and asked her to pick the closest match.
We ended up Googling it. Turns out PASUI is Pennsylvania State Unemployment Insurance. Makes sense, once you know. But the W-2 form didn't tell her that, her employer didn't explain it, and the tax software didn't connect it to anything. She was just supposed to know.
Box 14 is the weirdest part of the W-2, because it's the only part where employers can put whatever they want using whatever abbreviations they want. There's no IRS-mandated list of codes. If your employer wants to call 401(k) matching "Company Match," they can. If they want to call it "ER401K," they can. If they want to call it "CMATCH" and not tell you what that means, they can do that too.
This is a guide to decoding Box 14 — what's usually in it, what the common abbreviations mean, and what (if anything) you need to do with the information at tax time.
Why Box 14 is different from Box 12
Box 12 has official codes. Each single-letter or two-letter code is defined by the IRS and means the same thing on every W-2 in the country. If you see Code D, it's 401(k) contributions. Always.
Box 14 is the opposite. It's an open text field. Employers use it for information they want to report to employees but that doesn't fit anywhere else on the form. There's a loose convention — state disability insurance, union dues, pre-tax parking, and similar items often end up here — but no enforcement. Two employers can use completely different labels for the same thing.
This is why tax software has that awkward dropdown that says something like "Select the category that matches this Box 14 entry" with dozens of options. The software can't parse your employer's made-up abbreviation. You have to.
Common things you'll find in Box 14
Even though there's no official code list, a handful of items show up in Box 14 frequently. Here are the ones I've seen most often.
State disability insurance (SDI). If you work in California, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, or Hawaii, you probably pay into a state disability insurance program. Your contribution often shows up in Box 14 labeled as CASDI, NYSDI, NJSDI, RISDI, or similar. In some states, SDI contributions are tax-deductible — specifically, they might be deductible as state income tax if you itemize.
State unemployment insurance (SUI). In a few states, employees also pay into unemployment insurance (most states fund it through employer contributions only). Pennsylvania is the main one. If you see PASUI on your W-2, that's your contribution to Pennsylvania SUI.
Paid family leave (PFL) contributions. Several states have paid family leave programs funded partly by employee payroll deductions. You'll see PFL, WAPFL (Washington), NYPFL (New York), and similar abbreviations.
Pre-tax parking and transit. Qualified commuter benefits (Section 132 benefits) are pre-tax deductions from your pay. Some employers report the amount in Box 14 for transparency. Labels vary — "Parking," "Transit," "T-Benefit," or something more creative.
Union dues. If you pay union dues through payroll, your employer may report the annual total in Box 14. This is useful because union dues used to be deductible as a miscellaneous itemized deduction (pre-TCJA); now they're generally not deductible at the federal level, but some states still allow it.
Pension and retirement plan contributions. Contributions to non-qualified pension plans, after-tax retirement contributions, or employer pension contributions sometimes show up in Box 14 even when they're also reflected elsewhere on the W-2.
Health insurance premiums. Some employers report employee-paid health insurance premiums in Box 14, even when they're already reflected as pre-tax deductions in Box 1. This is purely informational.
Retirement plan loan repayments. If you have a 401(k) loan and are paying it back through payroll, some employers report the annual total here.
Educational assistance, charitable contributions, or really anything else. Box 14 is the catch-all. I've seen employers use it for tuition reimbursement, employee stock purchase plan contributions, back pay, and once, mysteriously, "uniform."
Is Box 14 taxable, deductible, or neither?
The honest answer is "it depends on what it actually represents." Most Box 14 items fall into three categories.
Items already reflected in Box 1. Pre-tax deductions (like parking, transit, or some health insurance premiums) are already excluded from your Box 1 taxable wages. When they appear in Box 14, it's for information — you don't add or subtract them again.
Items that might be deductible on state or federal returns. State disability insurance in some states, state unemployment insurance in Pennsylvania, and a few other items can be deductible at the state level or (for itemizers) as state and local taxes on Schedule A. The rules vary by state and can change, so check current IRS and state guidance for the year you're filing.
Purely informational items. Things like union dues (post-TCJA, generally not federally deductible), employer pension contributions, or miscellaneous notes are there so you know they exist, but they don't affect your tax return.
The problem is that the W-2 doesn't tell you which category a given Box 14 item belongs to. You have to know the content of the entry before you can know how to treat it.
How to figure out what an abbreviation means
If you see something in Box 14 that you don't recognize, here's what to do.
Start with the obvious: ask your employer's HR or payroll department. They generated the abbreviation; they can tell you what it means. This takes one email and saves a lot of guessing.
If that's not an option, compare the abbreviation against your pay stubs. Box 14 amounts almost always come from a specific deduction line on your stubs. If your final pay stub shows a YTD line called "CA SDI" with the same dollar amount that's in Box 14, you've found your answer.
Use online search, but carefully. A lot of generic advice sites have incomplete or wrong information about Box 14. Look for official state resources or the IRS for state-specific items.
If your tax software has a Box 14 dropdown, read the descriptions carefully. "Other (not classified)" is the safest fallback for anything you can't identify — it means the amount appears on your W-2 but doesn't trigger any tax calculation.
Common mistakes people make with Box 14
I've seen a few errors come up repeatedly with Box 14 entries.
Classifying something as deductible that isn't. Not every Box 14 item is deductible, and the IRS rules change. Don't assume that because an amount is reported there, it reduces your tax bill.
Double-counting pre-tax deductions. If your employer reports pre-tax health insurance in Box 14 for informational purposes, don't try to deduct it again — it's already reflected in your lower Box 1 wages.
Entering the wrong category in tax software. If you guess at the category and pick something that triggers an incorrect credit or deduction, you can end up with an inaccurate return. When in doubt, pick "Other" rather than guessing at a specific category.
Ignoring Box 14 entirely. Some items really are tax-relevant, especially state disability insurance contributions in states where they're deductible. Skipping Box 14 because it looks confusing can cost you money.
The short version
Box 14 is the W-2's free-text field. Employers report things there that don't fit anywhere else — state insurance contributions, pre-tax benefits, union dues, and anything else they want you to know about. There are no standardized codes, which means you have to decode what your specific employer wrote.
Most Box 14 items are either informational or already reflected elsewhere on the W-2. A few (state disability insurance in certain states, for example) can affect your tax return. When in doubt, ask your payroll department before assuming.
If you're reconciling your W-2 against your pay stubs and trying to figure out what each Box 14 amount corresponds to, having your stub data in spreadsheet form makes the lookup much easier. That's what I built StubSheet for (disclosure: I'm the creator), but even a manual spot-check works — find the YTD line on your December stub that matches the Box 14 amount, and you've found your answer.