Division of Financial Services
Payroll
If you identify any errors in your withholding, please contact the Cornell Payroll Office at (607) 255-5194 for assistance. If you have any general federal or state withholding tax questions, or if you are living or working in a state other than New York and would like to discuss state tax withholding based on your individual circumstances, you should consult your personal tax adviser.
Employees can use make changes to their federal and state withholding allowances using Workday.
Employees are responsible to ensure that any applicable additional local income taxes are withheld. If the correct taxes are not being withheld, you might have unexpected personal income tax liabilities at year-end or be required to file a tax return in additional states to request a refund of tax that was withheld by Cornell.
If you need assistance beyond the provided instructions, contact your unit's payroll representative or University Payroll at 377 Pine Tree Road (behind the East Hill P&C), or call (607) 255-5194.
If you are a nonresident alien, you are not eligible to use Workday. Instead, use the Foreign National Questionnaire to identify eligibility for exemption from income or FICA taxes for payments from Cornell University other than travel reimbursement or honorariums.
If you have any questions, contact the University Tax Office at (607) 255-9465 or tax@cornell.edu.
Employees: Please review your Workday home and work addresses and ensure that they are current and correct; the Payroll office uses both of these addresses to determine what state and local income tax is required to be withheld.
If you find that either address is incorrect, please update this field in Workday. If you have any trouble updating your home or work address in Workday, please reference the support materials available on the Employee Self Service page, or contact the HRIS Helpdesk at hrpayrollsupport@cornell.edu.
Students: All address changes must be done through Student Center. Remember that it's your responsibility to ensure, on an ongoing basis, that your home and work addresses in Workday or Student Center are current and correct. Failing to update your addresses can cause income tax to be withheld in the wrong states or local jurisdictions.
If your marital status or withholding allowances have changed, or will change for the next tax year, the IRS recommends that you submit a new Form W-4. You can update your withholding forms in Workday.
For instructions, see the Job Aid: How to Update Your Federal and State Withholding Allowances in Workday.
As of January 2019, the taxable wage base will be $132,900, and the total tax withheld for employees that meet or exceed the wage base will be $8,239.80. For information about how you can make sure you're withholding enough tax, see our recent article.
The Medicare tax rate remains 1.45%. Additional Medicare tax applies to taxable Medicare wages of $200,000 or more; the tax rate is 0.9%. There is no maximum cap on taxable Medicare wages.
If you reside in New York City or Yonkers, your earnings are subject to local income tax. If local taxes are not currently being withheld from your check, please complete an IT-2104 Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate.
For instructions, see the Job Aid: How to Update Your Federal and State Withholding Allowances in Workday.
