Ohio State employees who take advantage of tuition benefits provided by the university (either for themselves or dependents) should be aware of the tax consequences.
This page provides a summary of IRS regulations related to tuition benefits so that you can plan ahead.
Employee benefit- Based on IRS regulations, you should expect to be taxed on any graduate tuition benefit that exceeds $5,250 in a calendar year. (This also means that the first $5,250 in tuition assistance that the university provides to eligible faculty and staff each calendar year for graduate-level courses is not subject to taxation.)
We recommend that you prepare ahead of time for the tax consequences of your academic coursework. The university cannot provide tax advice to individual employees, so we would encourage you to discuss your particular circumstances with a tax professional.
Dependent benefit- Please note that tuition assistance for dependents, including spouse, or dependent children, who are taking graduate-level courses, is subject to taxation. Dependent undergraduate tuition assistance is taxable to the employee if the dependent is not eligible to be claimed on the employee’s federal tax return for that calendar year. (See questions on the Application for Dependent Tuition Assistance on the Office of Human Resources website).
Additional tax for the tuition assistance benefit is based on the employee's current W-4 on record at the time of taxation. The W-4 can be accessed through Workday.
Biweekly paid employees are taxed over six pay periods for the Spring, Summer and Autumn semesters.
Monthly paid employees are taxed over three pay periods for the Spring, Summer and Autumn semesters.
The months to be taxed for Spring semester: February, March, April. This timeframe may vary slightly depending upon payroll processing dates. A Workday notification is sent to employees prior to the first pay to be taxed stating the additional taxable income benefit on which they will be taxed.