OR PFML on your W-2 is Oregon Paid Family and Medical Leave, and the dollar figure in Box 14 is the total your employer withheld from your paychecks last year to fund the state program. The amount is informational. It doesn’t change your Box 1 wages, and for most filers it has no effect on what you owe. The one situation where it matters is if you itemize deductions on your federal return.
What the Box 14 Label Means
Box 14 is a catch-all space employers use for information that doesn’t belong in a dedicated box. Paid Leave Oregon doesn’t require a specific code, so you may see the entry written as “OR PFML,” “PFML,” “OR Paid Leave,” or something close.1Paid Leave Oregon. Common Questions About Paid Leave The label varies; the meaning doesn’t. The number next to it is the total employee contribution withheld from your wages over the calendar year.
Some employers use an approved equivalent plan, meaning a private insurance plan that matches or exceeds the state benefits. If that’s your situation, you may still see a Box 14 contribution amount reflecting what came out of your pay, even though the employer isn’t remitting employee contributions to the state.1Paid Leave Oregon. Common Questions About Paid Leave
How the Amount Is Calculated
The total contribution rate for 2026 is 1% of gross wages, split between you and your employer.2Paid Leave Oregon. Employers – Paid Leave Oregon You pay 60% of that 1%, which works out to 0.6% of your gross pay each pay period. Your employer pays the other 0.4% from its own funds.3Oregon Secretary of State. Oregon Administrative Rules – Employment Department – Division 70 Paid Leave Oregon – 471-070-3040 Contributions: Withholding of Employee Contributions Only your 0.6% share appears in Box 14. The employer portion is nowhere on your W-2.
Contributions stop once your year-to-date wages hit the Social Security taxable wage base, which is $184,500 for 2026.4Social Security Administration. 2026 Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Fact Sheet After that point, no more PFML withholding comes out of your pay for the rest of the year. The maximum any employee can contribute in 2026 is $1,107, which is $184,500 multiplied by 0.006.5Paid Leave Oregon. Contributions Calculator – Paid Leave Oregon A smaller Box 14 figure just means your wages were below the cap.
If you work for a business with fewer than 25 employees on average, you’ll still see the 0.6% deduction. Small employers aren’t required to pay the 40% employer share, but they must still withhold and remit the employee portion.6Paid Leave Oregon. Employers – Paid Leave Oregon – Section: Small Employers
Does OR PFML Reduce Your Taxes?
The contribution does not come out of your Box 1 wages. It’s withheld after gross income is calculated, so your federal taxable wages are the same whether or not PFML was deducted. That said, the amount can produce a deduction in one specific scenario.
In 2025, the IRS issued Revenue Ruling 2025-4, which classifies mandatory employee PFML contributions withheld by an employer as state income taxes. If you itemize on Schedule A, you can include your OR PFML contributions in your state and local tax (SALT) deduction.7Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Ruling 2025-4 The federal SALT deduction is capped at $10,000 for most filers, covering state income taxes, local taxes, and property taxes combined. If other state and local taxes already push you past that ceiling, adding your PFML contribution does nothing for your federal bill.
If you take the standard deduction, OR PFML doesn’t reduce your federal taxable income. Oregon doesn’t tax Paid Leave Oregon contributions at the state level, so there’s no separate state-return deduction to claim either.8Oregon Department of Revenue. Paid Leave Oregon Benefits
Entering OR PFML in Tax Software
When you type in your W-2, tax software usually asks you to pick a category for each Box 14 item. Choose “OR Paid Leave,” “OR PFML,” or the closest Oregon-specific option your software offers. If none of those appear, selecting “Other (not classified)” produces the same result. The amount is informational and doesn’t flow into your federal or state tax calculation on its own. It only comes into play if you’re itemizing and want to add it to the SALT total on Schedule A.
Who Should and Shouldn’t See This on Their W-2
Nearly every worker who performs services in Oregon has the 0.6% withheld, regardless of employer size.1Paid Leave Oregon. Common Questions About Paid Leave A few groups fall outside the program and shouldn’t see an OR PFML line at all:
- Federal government employees aren’t covered.
- Tribal government employees aren’t automatically covered, though a tribe may opt in for some or all of its workforce.
- Self-employed individuals aren’t required to participate but may join voluntarily.
If you fit one of these categories and still see an OR PFML entry on your W-2, that’s worth raising with your payroll department.1Paid Leave Oregon. Common Questions About Paid Leave
One last distinction worth keeping straight: the Box 14 figure covers contributions you paid in. If you actually received leave benefits from Paid Leave Oregon during the year, those come to you separately on Form 1099-G and follow different federal tax rules.9Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1099-G The W-2 line and the 1099-G are two different documents answering two different tax questions.