What Is MAPFML on Your W-2? Withholding, Federal, and State Tax Treatment

MAPFML on your W-2 is the amount your employer withheld during the year for Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave, the state program that funds paid time off for serious health conditions, caregiving, bonding with a new child, and certain military family situations. Starting with 2026 forms it appears in Box 14a, labeled “MAPFML,” as a single figure combining your family leave and medical leave contributions. Under IRS Revenue Ruling 2025-4, that amount is treated as state income tax, so it can be deducted on Schedule A if you itemize.¹

Where It Shows Up on the Form

Box 14 on the W-2 is the catch-all field the IRS reserves for items without a dedicated box. For 2026, that field was split into Box 14a and Box 14b. Your MAPFML contributions appear in Box 14a, which is what prior-year forms simply called Box 14. Box 14b is new and holds Treasury Tipped Occupation Codes; it has nothing to do with PFML.²³

Your employer reports the full year’s family and medical leave withholding as one combined number under the “MAPFML” label. If your tax software prompts you to categorize the entry, choose the Massachusetts paid family leave option so it maps the amount correctly on your return.

How Much Should Be Withheld

For 2026, employees at companies with 25 or more covered individuals pay up to 0.46% of eligible wages: 0.18% for family leave (the whole family leave contribution) and 0.28% for medical leave (40% of the medical leave contribution). At smaller employers, there’s no required employer share, and the same 0.46% is withheld from the employee.⁴

Withholding only applies to wages up to the Social Security wage base, which is $184,500 for 2026.⁵ Once your year-to-date earnings pass that number, MAPFML withholding stops for the rest of the year. To check your W-2, multiply your eligible wages (capped at $184,500) by 0.46%. The result should match the MAPFML figure in Box 14a.

MAPFML contributions are not excluded from gross income, so they stay inside your Box 1 wages. The federal benefit, if any, comes at filing time rather than through a smaller taxable wage figure.¹

Deducting MAPFML on Your Federal Return

In Revenue Ruling 2025-4, the IRS held that mandatory employee contributions to state paid family and medical leave programs, Massachusetts included, are payments of state income tax. That puts them in the same category as the state income tax already withheld from your paycheck for deduction purposes.¹

Two conditions matter:

You have to itemize on Schedule A. If you take the standard deduction, MAPFML gives you nothing on the federal side.
The amount counts against the $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions ($5,000 if you’re married filing separately). Massachusetts income tax withholding alone often sits near or above that cap, so your MAPFML contribution may not add anything deductible even if you itemize.

If your employer voluntarily pays part or all of your required employee share, the ruling treats the picked-up amount as additional compensation to you. It gets added to Box 1 wages and is subject to federal employment taxes, but you can still deduct it as state income tax on Schedule A, within the same SALT cap.¹

How It’s Handled on the Massachusetts Return

Massachusetts Form 1 offers a deduction of up to $2,000 per person for contributions to Social Security, Medicare, Railroad Retirement, and U.S. or Massachusetts retirement systems. MAPFML looks similar on a pay stub but does not qualify. The Form 1 instructions list the contributions eligible for that deduction, and PFML is not on the list.⁶

There is one Massachusetts-side item worth checking. If you worked for more than one Massachusetts employer during the year and each withheld PFML independently, your total withholding may exceed what the law requires. The Form 1 instructions include a worksheet for calculating excess PFML contributions, and the credit goes on line 49 of the return.⁷

If You Don’t See MAPFML at All

Some Massachusetts employers run their own paid leave program through a private or self-insured plan approved by the state. Those employers are exempt from sending contributions to the state fund, so an approved private plan is a common reason MAPFML is absent from Box 14a.⁸ Any deductions tied to the private plan would be labeled differently. Your payroll or HR department can tell you which arrangement your employer uses.

One more coverage note: the program follows the work location, not the employee’s home address. If you live out of state but your job is in Massachusetts, you’re generally a covered individual and MAPFML should be withheld.⁹

1
Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Ruling 2025-4
2
Internal Revenue Service. General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3 (2026)
3
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Wage Contributions and Reporting for Paid Family and Medical Leave
4
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Paid Family and Medical Leave Employer Contribution Rates and Calculator
5
Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base
6
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Social Security (FICA) and Medicare Deduction
7
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Form 1 Instructions
8
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Benefit Requirements for Private Paid Leave Plan Exemptions
9
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Your Eligibility for Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML)