<p>My son did an internship last summer and his W-2 box #1 wages state $3063.20, but box #3 (Social Security) and #5 (Medicaire) wages only show $1662.88. Could this be correct?</p>
<p>Just had a look at one of my son’s W-2s for last year and #3 and #5 are blank.</p>
<p>Wow, Ok. Thanks BCE.</p>
<p>His tax statements have been all over the place over the years. There was one year where I got in touch with someone high up in the Mass DOR to straighten out a problem. About $13 was put into some MA retirement program. The annual fee for the retirement program was more than that. So I made various calls and wound up at the Treasurer’s (of the state) Office and was then bounced to DOR. We spent about 30 minutes on the phone and he said that it was a problem with the payroll system at my son’s school. He also copied all of his direct reports. They said that they would straighten it out. They had to call the financial services company to get the money back, then send it to his school, change his W-2, reissue a corrected one and send him a check. They also said that they would talk to the payroll department to ensure that they got some training on payroll codes. It appears that a clerk entered the wrong flag for him on something.</p>
<p>So the overall cost of my time, the DOR’s time, the financial services company’s time, payroll’s time, the school treasurer’s office, etc. was probably on the order of at least a thousand dollars. For a $13 mistake.</p>
<p>It may be that some of the income is exempt from SS and medicare. Some income is. For instance work study earnings are exempt from both. I don’t know how the rules work for internships. It may depend on who the internship was with.</p>
<p>I remember when I was a teenager and got my first W-2. I was shocked. “Who the hell is F.I.C.A. and what is he doing with all of my money?!”</p>