The University is required to withhold Federal, State, and in some cases, St. Louis City taxes from your earnings. Taxes are withheld at the time income is earned or received during the year and the University remits them to the appropriate taxing authority.
Federal Income Tax
The amount of federal income tax withheld from your paycheck is based on elections that you make on Federal Form W-4 (Employee Withholding Allowance Certificate). This form is used by US citizens and resident aliens. You can review and update your elections anytime by signing into Workday and going to the Pay worklet.
Many tools are available to help you understand the impact of W-4 elections that you make. PaycheckCity is a popular website.
Federal FICA Tax
FICA tax is composed of two components:
- Social Security taxes are assessed at a rate of 6.2% of earnings up to a maximum wage base that changes annually. To see the calendar year maximum wage base go to Employee Self Service | Payroll and Compensation | Tax Info and Paycheck Calc.
- Medicare taxes are assessed at a rate of 1.45% of earnings. The maximum wage base does not apply to Medicare taxes.
Students may be eligible for exemption for this ta. For more information, see Student FICA Exemption at the bottom of this page.
Missouri Income Tax
Individuals who work in Missouri are required to pay Missouri state income tax regardless of your home state. The amount of Missouri income tax withheld from your oaycheck is based on elections that you make on Missouri Form MO W-4. You can review and update your elections anytime by signing into Workday and going to the Pay worklet. If you have an approved telecommuting agreement authorizing you to work in another state, those can also be viewed and updated in Workday.
St. Louis City Earnings Tax – NEW!
Additional Information Coming Soon
The City of St. Louis imposes a 1% earnings tax on the following:
- Salaries, wages, commissions, and other compensation earned by resident individuals of the City.
- Salaries, wages, commissions, and other compensation earned by nonresident individuals of the City for work done or services performed or rendered in the City. Note that under the city’s new guidance, work done or services performed are where the employee is located.
The University is required to withhold the earnings tax from your paycheck and remit it directly to the City of St. Louis.
St. Louis City Earnings Tax and “Hybrid” Remote Work
Individuals who are not St. Louis City residents and work both within and outside of the City of St. Louis are eligible for partial exemption if they can demonstrate that a percentage of their wages are for services performed outside the City of St. Louis.
To claim an exemption from city earnings tax withheld by an employer for whole days worked outside of the city, employees must file a Form E-1 – Individual Earnings Tax Return for the tax year for which they are claiming exemption. The form allows for a non-residency deduction which will be refunded by the city. Non-residency deduction claims must be accompanied by a signed letter from the employer on official letterhead confirming the number of whole days worked outside of the city during the year.*
To facilitate this request, you may use the Hybrid Employee Deduction Claim.
*Note that the Form must be completed by a manager or supervisor within the employee’s department or another manager who can certify the employee’s work location. This form cannot be completed by the central area Payroll Services or Human Resources departments for anyone outside of Payroll Services or Human Resources unless they have reason to know that work was performed outside of the City.
REMOTE WORK REFUND CLAIMS FOR YEARS 2020 – 2023
The City of St. Louis recently declared that it will refund earnings taxes paid for remote work by nonresidents for the years 2020 – 2023.
If you meet all the following criterion, you may claim a refund for days you worked virtually during those periods.
- You were a nonresident of St. Louis City;
- Your Washington University work location in HRMS/Workday was within City limits; and
- You had city earnings tax withheld.
To claim the refund, nonresident employees must complete a Form E-1R, City of St. Louis Individual Earnings Tax Refund Request, for each year for which a refund is requested. The form and instructions can be found on the Collector of Revenue’s website.
NON-RESIDENCY DEDUCTION FORMULA
Page 2 of the Form E-1R includes a non-residency deductions formula that must be completed in order to claim a deduction for days worked outside of the city.
1. Total work days (standard work year is 260 days) _____days
2. Days lived or worked outside the City (include documentation) _____days
3. Percentage of days lived or worked outside the City (line 2 ÷ line 1) _____%
4. Gross wages reported on W-2 $_____
5. Non-residency deduction (line 4 x line 3) $_____
Tips for completion of the non-residency deduction formula:
- Generally, if you were employed for the entire year, regardless of who or where your employer(s) were located, you worked 260 days.
- Days worked outside the city. This number does not include vacation, sick days, and holidays. Note that the city is asking for the number of days worked outside of the city, not the number of days worked in the city.
Examples of calculating days worked outside the city:
- Jane does not live in the City of St. Louis. Jane’s work location was 4240 Duncan Ave, in St. Louis City, for the entire calendar year of 2020. On March 23, 2020, Jane was told to begin working remotely for the remainder of the year. Jane did not take any vacation or sick days during the remained of 2020.
- Days worked from home – 3/23 – 12/31 (5 days x 40 weeks) 200
- Less paid holidays during the remote period (8)
- Days worked outside of the city 192
- Jane does not live in the City of St. Louis. Jane’s work location was 4240 Duncan Ave, in St. Louis City, for the entire calendar year of 2020. On March 23, 2020, Jane was told to begin working remotely. Jane worked from home the remainder of 2020. She took two weeks vacation in July of 2020. She was sick for a week in November of 2020.
- Days worked from home – 3/23 – 12/31 (5 days x 40 weeks) 200
- Less paid holidays during the remote period (8)
- Less vacation days taken during the remote period (14)
- Less sick days taken during the remote period (5)
- Days worked outside of the city 173
- Jane does not live in the City of St. Louis but her work location is in the city. Jane worked in the office 3 days per week during 2021 and 2 days per week from her home in Illinois. Jane had 14 paid holidays during the year and 21 days of vacation.
- Days worked from home in 2021 (3 days x 52 weeks) 156
- Less paid holidays (14)
- Less vacation days taken (21)
- Days worked outside of the city 121
EMPLOYEE VERIFICATION SECTION
The Form E-1R requires certification by the employer of the days worked outside of the city that the employee is claiming.
Total days worked:
Form E-1R: “This is to certify the below mentioned employee, a non-resident of the City of St. Louis, worked a total of ___________ days, including vacation, sick, and holidays everywhere.”
Instruction: If the employee was an active full-time employee at any employer for the entire calendar year, they should use 260 days.
Days worked outside of the city:
Form E-1R: “This is to certify the below mentioned employee, a non-resident of the City of St. Louis, worked outside the City of St. Louis a total of ___________ whole days.”
Instruction: Employees may only report whole days worked outside of the city. Days worked in the city includes holidays, vacation, and sick days used. See Non-Residency Deduction Formula section above on how to calculate this number.
Address of work location outside of the city:
Employees should provide their remote work address outside of the city. This is most likely their home address outside of the city.
Certification section:
Company Address should be the employee’s physical WashU work location within St. Louis city at the time of the earnings tax withholding for which they are requesting the refund (i.e. 660 S. Euclid, 4240 Duncan, 700 Rosedale, et al).
Company Phone Number should be the work phone number at which your supervisor/manager can be reached or can receive messages. If there is no physical work phone number, use (314) 935-5000.
Your supervisor, manager, or other manager within your supervisory organization who is able to verify your time worked outside of the city must provide their printed name, signature, title, and date.
Failure to complete the form in its entirety may result in the disallowance of the refund by the Collector of Revenue.
If you have additional questions about the application of the St. Louis City Earnings Tax, please contact your tax advisor.
INFORMATION FOR MANAGERS COMPLETING THE EMPLOYEE VERIFICATION SECTION OF THE FORM E-1R
Verify the total number of days worked by the employee for the refund year. Days should not include days on furlough. Days do include holidays and vacation and sick days used. If the employee was an active full-time employee for the entire calendar year, this number will be 260 days.
Verify the number of days the employee worked outside the city. See Non-Residency Deduction Formula section above on how this number is calculated.
DO NOT SIGN BLANK FORMS! Make sure that the total days worked and whole days worked outside of the city are completed.
Company Address. This should be the employee’s physical WashU work location for the period for which they are requesting a refund of the earnings tax withheld (i.e. 660 S. Euclid, 4240 Duncan, 700 Rosedale, et al).
Company Phone Number. This should be the work phone number at which you can be reached or from which you can receive messages.
Provide printed name and title, sign, and date. The City of St. Louis requires and original (“wet”) signature. Electronic signatures are not accepted.
Student FICA Exemptions
Criteria used to determine exemptions