January is a good time to review your tax situation and current withholding status. If you've experienced any significant life changes in the past year—such as getting married or divorced, welcoming a child, purchasing a home, or receiving a raise—it may be beneficial to adjust your tax withholding accordingly.

Please keep in mind that tax tables change from year to year. The IRS offers a helpful tool, the tax withholding estimator, that you can use to estimate your tax burden and complete your W-4 correctly. Payroll recommends that employees review and update this information annually to help avoid any excessive tax owed at the end of the year.

Additionally, if you claimed tax-exempt status on your W-4 last year, per the IRS, you need to submit a new form W-4 by February 15, 2025.

• 2024 W-2s will be available on January 31, 2025.

• They can be accessed electronically through Employee Self-Service (ESS).

  • You can retrieve, save, and print your W-2 and ACA (1095C) forms in ESS under Documents>Employee Documents by clicking on the drop-down menu.

• W-2s will not be mailed or printed since they are posted to ESS.

• Former employees still have access to this system with the same login information.

• If you have not registered for the site, please choose "Register." If you do not know your employee number, please contact Human Resources at 256-963-9855.

• If you need assistance, call IT Helpdesk at 256-428-6900.

• If you cannot remember your login information, please use "forgot username or password." This information will be sent to the email address you used to register for the site. If you registered with an email address to which you no longer have access, your profile can be reset. Please send a Profile Reset Request to payroll@hsv-k12.org.

• Safari browser does not work with the site, preferred browsers are Chrome and Firefox.

• For help registering or accessing ESS, please view the ESS instructions document located on the finance department page.