For 2025, employees will need to take extra steps to benefit from the No Tax on Overtime provision that allows them to deduct up to $12,500 from their federal taxes. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) introduced this temporary deduction in July, and made it retroactive to January 1, 2025.
However, the IRS did not revise the 2025 Form W-2 and is providing transition relief to employers. As a result, employers are not required to report your overtime wages on your W-2 for 2025. Instead, employees will need to provide documentation showing their total overtime wages earned by providing their accountant with a separate document.
Self-Reporting Tips and Overtime Amounts
For 2025, if you earned tips or overtime, we suggest providing your W-2 along with your final pay stub of the year to your accountant. The final paystub is where your total overtime amount should be reported.
If your final pay stub does not include this information and your employer chooses not to include the deductible overtime on the W-2 form, the employer is still obligated to provide employees with details on any overtime that is potentially deductible in some form. According to the IRS, this detail can be in a memo to the employee explaining what overtime the employee earned that is eligible for the deduction.
Taxpayers are responsible for providing accurate, verified information and keeping documentation in case the IRS requests it during a review or audit.
IRS Methods of Calculating Overtime
- If your pay statement separately shows an “overtime premium” amount: Use that specific amount as your qualified overtime.
- If your pay statement shows a total “overtime” amount (regular pay plus premium) for time-and-a-half pay: You can use one-third (1/3) of that total amount as your qualified overtime.
- If you were paid at a higher rate (e.g., double time): Use an appropriate fraction to isolate the FLSA-required premium. For double time, multiply the total amount by one-fourth (1/4) to calculate the qualifying amount.
- If no year-end statement provides the necessary amounts: The individual may use any reasonable methods based on their regular rate and hours worked over 40 hours in a week, including requesting information from the employer.
Alabama Overtime Reporting
At the time the OBBBA was being signed into law, Alabama was wrapping up its own temporary no-tax-on-overtime provision that excluded the 5% state tax from overtime pay from January through June of 2025 (with the tax reinstated on July 1). In addition to the mismatched timing, the actual amounts considered “overtime pay” differ from Federal and state. In the example from above, if your overtime rate is $30, the full $30 was exempt from the 5% Alabama state tax, which differs from the IRS definition, that only exempts $10.
As you can see, overtime reporting for 2025 will be tricky, especially for those working in Alabama. If you expect have overtime wages to report and want to make sure you get both state and federal deductions, we are available to file for you. Our minimum fee for a tax return starts at $750 and if you would like to save yourself from this headache, click below to get your start a conversation and receive a complimentary quote.
Erann Thompson
As a Principal and the Director of Advisory Services at Avizo, Erann collaborates closely with business owners to identify the optimal mix of accounting cloud applications, aiming to enhance efficiency and profitability for your business.
