Use this month-by-month summary of year-end deadlines to help ensure both your unit's and your employees' timely completion of critical tax information and requirements.
On This Page:
December
December 11-18, 2025
⇒ Run Payroll Reports, Make any Payroll Corrections
Departments should run these payroll-impacting reports each day during payroll calculations until the December 18 payroll cutoff deadline to verify employees will be paid correctly – we especially recommend running the R0321 Upcoming Employment End Dates report and the Earnings and Actuals reports.
⇒ Confirm Employees have a Home Mailing Address in Workday
Departments should run the R0559 Home Address Audit Report to identify which employees have missing or incorrect addresses and follow up with employees as necessary. Though it is the responsibility of the employee to ensure their home address with a mailing designation is correct and updated in Workday, employees with a missing or incorrect home address are at risk of being taxed incorrectly or not receiving their tax form(s) at all. Employees can refer to the Edit Personal Information User Guide for guidance on how to make address updates. Corrections must be made in Workday no later than December 31 to appear on their 2025 tax form.
December 10, 2025
⇒ Overpayment Forms Due
Completed forms for overpayments – including Notification of Payroll Overpayment Forms and Overpayment Worksheets – must be received in the Payroll Office by 4:00 pm to set up overpayments at the correct tax rate. Forms not received by this date may be subject to higher federal taxes per IRS Federal Tax regulations. Please contact us if you have questions regarding the overpayment process.
⇒ Glacier Tax Compliance Paperwork Due
Completed Glacier Tax Compliance paperwork must be received in the Payroll Office by 4:00 pm. This will ensure that tax forms (W-2, 1042-S) for 2025 are correct.
⇒ Tax Treaty Renewal Paperwork Due
Completed Tax Treaty renewal paperwork for 2025 must be received in the Payroll Office by 4:00 pm to ensure that tax treaty status will go into effect for the 2026 tax year. This process is completed using the Glacier Tax Compliance software.
Note Regarding Foreign National Employees:
Employees who may be eligible for a tax treaty in 2026 must submit new tax treaty paperwork by December 10, 2025. Tax treaty eligibility is determined by using Glacier Tax Compliance. This also applies to stipend payments for 2026 since Foreign National stipend payments are subject to federal withholding taxes. The University of Washington is required by law to withhold federal income taxes at the rate of 14% from the stipend if tax treaty renewal paperwork for 2026 is not received.
December 15, 2025
⇒ Final Payroll and HCM Deadlines for Last Payroll of the Year
To be processed in time for the final payroll of the year, all underpayment, overpayment, and payroll deduction requests, as well as any paperwork for Foreign National employees, must be submitted to the Payroll Office by the 1:00 pm Additional Pay Request Deadline. Additionally, all unit-level, payroll-impacting HCM business processes must also be submitted to the HCM Operations team by the 5:00 pm Campus Approval Deadline to be processed for the final payroll of the year.
Any On-Demand check requests or retro pay requests can be submitted to the Payroll Office after December 15, following the guidelines for On-Demand check requests.
December 19, 2025
⇒ Final Pay Calculation of the Year
The Payroll Office runs the Final Pay Calculation for the year.
December 24, 2025
⇒ Last Payday of the Year
All paper paychecks are mailed to the Home/Primary address listed in Workday.
December 26, 2025
⇒ Overpayment Repayments Due
Repayments of net calculated overpayments by personal check must be received in the Payroll Office by 12:00 pm. Per IRS rules, once the new year begins, prior-year Federal Withholding Tax can no longer be factored into net repayment calculations, which may lead to a higher repayment amount owed. Please contact us if you have questions regarding the overpayment process.
⇒ On-Demand Check Requests Due
The deadline to submit any 2025 requests for On-Demand Checks is 12:00 pm. As a reminder, all business processes must be completed and approved in Workday before submitting On-Demand Check requests. Requests received after this deadline will not be processed until January 2, 2026 due to year-end tax rules.
December 31, 2025
⇒ Home Mailing Address Updates Due
This is the last day to guarantee Home Mailing Address updates (updates must by completed by 5:00 pm). Every employee must manually designate which Home Address is to be used for mailing purposes. The address in Workday as of this date will appear on the 2025 tax form. No address corrections to the tax form can be made after this date.
January
January 2, 2026
⇒ Social Security Number Corrections Due
Any corrections to Social Security numbers (SSNs) must be completed in Workday by 4:00 pm to ensure correct tax reporting for tax year 2025. Please respond timely to any emails from the Payroll Office alerting you of Social Security number discrepancies.
⇒ Paper Tax Form Opt-Outs Due
This is the last day to opt out of paper tax forms for 2025 tax documents. Please encourage employees to opt out of receiving paper tax forms, and to instead retrieve tax information in Workday.
January 5, 2026
⇒ Updates to Tax Elections for 2026 Tax Withholding Due
This is the last day that US Citizens/Residents can make updates to Tax Elections for tax withholding for the January 9 payday (updates must be completed by 9:00 pm). Employees can update their withholding elections in Workday at any time, but this is the deadline for changes to go into effect for the first paycheck of the year.
The University of Washington will not refund federal withholding taxes due to late Tax Election updates in Workday.
January 9, 2026
⇒ First Paycheck of the Year
This is the first paycheck on which FICA taxes (Social Security/Medicare) will be once again taken for any employee who reached their FICA cap last year.
This is also the first paycheck on which FICA taxes (Social Security/Medicare) will be taken if Foreign National employees have not completed and submitted Glacier Tax Compliance paperwork determining that they are FICA-exempt. This also applies to Foreign National employees whose FICA status has changed.
January 9, 2026 (subject to change)
⇒ Form W-2 Available in Workday for Employees who Opted Out of Paper Tax Forms
W-2 tax forms become available in Workday for employees who have chosen to opt out of paper tax forms; employees will receive an email notification when the tax forms are available.
January 23, 2026
⇒ Paper Tax Forms Mailed
The Payroll Office mails all 2025 paper tax forms (W-2 and 1099-R) for active employees who did not opt to go paperless by the January 2 deadline. Paper tax forms will be mailed to employees that were terminated in 2025, and to employees who are on extended leave, regardless of opt-out status. Note that USPS will not forward tax documents.
If an employee states that they did not receive their tax form, electronic W-2 forms will be available in Workday; the employee may also submit a request for a replacement paper tax form AFTER February 2, 2026.
Foreign National employees may receive both a W-2 Tax Form and 1042-S Tax Form. Please advise your Foreign Nationals to wait to file their tax return until after the 1042-S Tax forms are available in March 2026.
Non-student employees paid a stipend will be mailed a Stipend Letter.
Student employees paid by stipends receive their stipend payment information on Form 1098-T. This form is distributed by Student Fiscal Services and available on their website.
February
February 2, 2026
⇒ Replacement Tax Forms Processed
The Payroll Office will begin processing requests for paper tax forms (W-2, 1099-R, Stipend Letter only).
March
March 10, 2026 (subject to change)
⇒ Form 1042-S Mailed
The 1042-S tax form for Foreign National employees will be mailed to the address listed in Glacier, unless the Foreign National designated they wish to receive an electronic copy of their 1042-S. The electronic version of the tax form will be available in the Glacier Tax Compliance software.