The OR PFML line on your W-2 shows how much your employer withheld from your paychecks during the year to fund Paid Leave Oregon, the state’s paid family and medical leave insurance program. For 2026, the employee contribution is 0.6% of gross wages up to $184,500, so the figure in that box should top out at roughly $1,107. The amount comes out of after-tax dollars, which means it doesn’t reduce the federal wages shown in Box 1, but you may be able to deduct it on Schedule A if you itemize.1Oregon.gov. Unemployment Insurance Tax and Paid Leave Oregon Contribution Rates Hold Steady for 20262Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base
What the Dollar Amount Represents
Paid Leave Oregon runs on a combined 1% payroll contribution. Employees pay 60% of that (0.6% of gross wages) and employers with 25 or more workers cover the other 40%. Small employers with fewer than 25 employees don’t owe the employer share, but they still withhold the employee portion from paychecks and send it to the state.1Oregon.gov. Unemployment Insurance Tax and Paid Leave Oregon Contribution Rates Hold Steady for 2026
Withholding stops once your year-to-date wages with that employer hit the Social Security wage base, which is $184,500 for 2026. At the full 0.6% employee rate against that cap, the most a single employer should withhold from you in 2026 is $1,107.2Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base If you earned less than that, the dollar amount in the box should be close to 0.6% of your Oregon wages for the year.
Why It Shows Up in Box 14
Employers report Paid Leave Oregon withholdings in Box 14 of your W-2, the “Other” box that payroll systems use for information not required anywhere else on the form. Reporting it there is optional, not legally required, which is why some employees see it and some don’t.3Paid Leave Oregon. Common Questions – Paid Leave Oregon There is no state-mandated label, so the line next to the amount might read OR PFML, ORPFL, Paid Leave OR, or something close.
If you want to verify the figure, pull your last pay stub of the year. The year-to-date Paid Leave Oregon total on the stub should match what landed in Box 14.
How It Affects Your Federal Taxes
The money withheld for OR PFML is already included in the wages reported in Box 1 of your W-2. It isn’t a pre-tax deduction like a traditional 401(k) contribution, so you don’t get to subtract it from your federal taxable income on the front end.
What you may be able to do is claim it as a state tax on Schedule A. The IRS treats employee Paid Leave Oregon contributions as deductible state taxes under Section 164, which means they count toward your state and local tax (SALT) deduction if you itemize.4IRS. Revenue Ruling 2025-4 The SALT deduction is capped at $10,000 per year. Oregon has a relatively high state income tax, so many filers already hit that cap on state income tax alone, in which case the PFML contribution produces no additional federal benefit. If you’re under the cap, it adds to the deductible pile.
Taking the standard deduction? Then the contribution has no effect on your federal return. It’s withheld, remitted, and the number in Box 14 is informational.
How It Affects Your Oregon Return
Oregon does not offer a separate subtraction for the contributions themselves. The withholding doesn’t reduce your Oregon taxable income the way a retirement deferral would, and there’s no line on the state return to claim the 0.6% back.
There is an Oregon subtraction, code 386, but it applies to Paid Leave Oregon benefits received, not contributions paid. If you itemized federally and received family or safe leave benefits during the year, code 386 lets you subtract on your Oregon return the same amount you could have used to reduce the benefit on your federal return had you taken the standard deduction instead.5Oregon Association of Tax Consultants. DOR Clarifies Paid Leave Oregon Subtraction for Tax Year 2024 If you only paid in and didn’t take any leave, code 386 doesn’t apply to you.
If You Also Received Benefits
The W-2 line only reflects what you paid in. If you actually took paid leave during the year, you’ll get a separate Form 1099-G or 1099-MISC from the Oregon Employment Department by the end of January, and the tax treatment of those payments is very different depending on the type of leave.6State of Oregon Employment Department. 1099-G
Under IRS Revenue Ruling 2025-4:4IRS. Revenue Ruling 2025-4
- Family leave and safe leave benefits are fully included in federal gross income, no matter which share of the contributions funded them.
- Medical leave benefits are partly excludable. The portion funded by your own employee contributions is excluded from federal gross income under Section 104(a)(3); the portion funded by employer contributions is taxable. Because employees fund 60% of the program, roughly that share of medical leave benefits may be excludable.
If you took family or safe leave and claim the standard deduction, the IRS lets you reduce the benefit amount on Schedule 1, line 7 by the amount of your own contributions to the program during the year. That’s one place where the Box 14 number does real work on your return, even for standard-deduction filers.
When the Number Looks Wrong
A few common situations throw the Box 14 figure off from what you expected:
You worked for more than one Oregon employer. Each employer withholds independently against the $184,500 wage base, so your combined withholdings across W-2s can exceed the $1,107 cap. Paid Leave Oregon accepts refund requests for excess contributions. Contact the Oregon Employment Department if your Box 14 totals add up to more than the annual maximum.
You started or left mid-year. The figure will reflect only the wages that employer actually paid you, not a full-year calculation.
Your employer uses an approved equivalent plan. Some employers run a private plan that meets or exceeds Paid Leave Oregon’s benefits instead of using the state program. In that case, your W-2 may show a different label or no OR PFML line at all, because contributions flow to a private insurer or a self-funded arrangement rather than the state.7Paid Leave Oregon. Equivalent Plans If the deduction is missing and you want to confirm you’re covered, ask HR which plan the company uses.
The math is simply off. Divide the Box 14 amount by your Oregon wages for the year. If the result isn’t close to 0.6%, flag it with payroll before filing.