Taxes

Several factors affect whether UCSF is required to withhold or report your income to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), in turn affecting what you are required to do to comply with the law. How do you know where you stand?

#1 Know Your Title Code

As a postdoc at UCSF (or at any UC campus), your "title code" reflects who pays you and how you are paid, and (together with your citizenship) that determines your tax status. Because postdocs are often paid through more than one funding source, you may have two or even three title codes. See a list of all postdoc title codes.  If you don’t know which title code or codes you fall under, consult your HR representative.

#2 Determine How Your Title Code Affects Your Tax Situation

Postdoc Employees (title code 3252), Regardless of Citizenship Status
  • The payments you receive for working at UCSF under a postdoc employee appointment are considered wages.
  • The IRS requires UCSF to withhold income taxes from your paycheck. UCSF will therefore hold back some of your wages and pay them to the IRS.
  • At the end of the year, UCSF will provide you with a W-2 form, showing the amount of tax that has been withheld from your pay. You will submit this form and the information on it to the IRS on your tax return, and that’s all you really need to worry about.
  • It is possible that you will get a tax refund, or you may have to pay additional tax. When you are first hired, UCSF will provide you with a form W-4, a worksheet that will help the University determine how much money to withhold from your paycheck for taxes. If you provide the right information on this form, then usually you will pay about the right amount of tax and avoid having a high additional tax bill.
Postdoc Fellows (title code 3253) who are U.S. Citizens, Permanent Residents (i.e. Green Card Holders), and Resident Aliens
  • Payments you receive for working at UCSF are not considered “wages,” rather they are considered a “fellowship.”
  • UCSF is not required to withhold taxes from fellowships or to report fellowship payments for individuals who are U.S. citizens, permanent residents (green card holders), or resident aliens for tax purposes.
  • The IRS and California Franchise Tax Board require fellowship recipients to “self–report” fellowship payments when they file their U.S. and California annual income tax returns.
  • This means that the postdoc fellows themselves are solely responsible for keeping track of their own monthly fellowship payment statements.
  • UCSF will not issue a W-2 form for fellowship payments to postdocs in this category, since only payments that are considered wages are reported on the W-2.
  • Postdoc fellows who fall under this category should refer to the IRS and CA Franchise Tax Board for information about paying quarterly estimated taxes.
Postdoc Fellows (title code 3253) who are NON-Resident Aliens
  • The IRS does require UCSF to withhold taxes from fellowship payments to postdoc fellows (those in title code 3253) who are non-resident aliens for tax purposes.
  • At the year-end, a different tax statement, called a “1042-S” will be provided to such postdocs.
Postdoc “Paid-Directs” (title code 3254)
  • If you are paid by an external organization, such as a foreign government, your pay is not considered "wages," so UCSF is not required to report such payments to the IRS.
  • You will not receive a W-2 form. However, when a UCSF department pays for the cost of benefits for a postdoc paid-direct, this contribution is considered a form of income called “imputed income,” and the amount of this contribution is considered taxable income.
Postdocs with Multiple Title Codes

If you have more than one appointment line in the payroll system, more than one tax situation may apply to you. For example, say you receive a fellowship (under title code 3253), but you also receive a supplemental salary from your PI (under title code 3252). In this case, part of your income will be reported to the IRS, and part will not. That means that although you would have to pay estimated quarterly taxes to the IRS for the fellowship portion of your pay, UCSF will withhold the taxes from the supplemental portion of your pay.

#3 Attend a Workshop or Consult these Resources

  • See information on tax workshops for postdocs at right. 
  • Figure out how much Federal estimated taxes to pay and how to make your payments
  • Figure out how much State of California estimated taxes to pay and how to make your payments
  • Off-campus, a non-profit organization in San Francisco called "Tax Aid" offers free tax advice for people whose household income is less than $54,000.

Be sure to check into the possible tax consequences of your benefits plan.