Form W-2 changes for 2026: new codes for tips, overtime and Trump accounts

• Box 12, code TP: total cash tips. Box 14b: the Treasury tipped occupation code(s).
• Box 12, code TT: qualified overtime compensation, meaning only the premium half of time-and-a-half.
• Box 12, code TA: employer contributions to an employee’s or dependent’s Trump account, allowed from July 4, 2026 up to $2,500 a year.
• Box 14 becomes 14a (Other) and 14b, and box 9 is smaller to make room.
• The threshold for reporting wages with no federal income, social security or Medicare tax withheld rises from $600 to $2,000 for wages paid after 2025.
• State paid family and medical leave: the employee’s contribution and the employer’s voluntary payment are both included as wages.
• Failure-to-file and failure-to-furnish penalties rise for returns due after December 31, 2026.

Very little. The 2025 instructions list Form 15397 for extensions to furnish employee copies, a new OMB number, updated W-2c and W-3c forms, disaster relief and inflation-adjusted penalties. Tips and overtime were not separately reported, which is why employees need pay stubs for their 2025 Schedule 1-A.

• Map each tipped job to its Treasury tipped occupation code.
• Split the overtime premium from regular pay in payroll for every 2026 pay run.
• Confirm whether the employer will contribute to Trump accounts, and from when.
• Ask the payroll provider to confirm its 2026 W-2 carries codes TP, TT, TA and box 14b.