TCU employees can now access their Form W-2 online as part of a broader effort by TCU to make payroll services more efficient and employees’ private information safer.Form W-2 is used to report wages and taxes of employees for the previous calendar year.

TCU Human Resources adopted the service in order to encourage customer service and help avoid identity theft, said Debby Watson, director of payroll services.

“Eighty percent of identity theft can be traced to residential mailboxes,” said Jill Laster, associate vice chancellor of human resources and risk management.

Employees have until noon Friday to request the W-2 online, after which it will be sent out on paper.

Watson said Human Resources sent e-mails and posted signs to educate employees about the service.

“I believe it will be very popular,” Watson said.

David Stell, a spokesman for the Internal Revenue Service, said this is the second year the W-2 can be accessed online. Stell said the online W-2 is part of a nationwide trend toward electronic tax filing, with more than 50 percent of federal tax returns in 2005 filed electronically.

Shelli Barr-Majors, TCU payroll tax coordinator, said the online W-2 arrives more quickly than the paper W-2, which is sent out via mail and may also be accessed by students’ parents.

After getting the go-ahead from administration last month, TCU became one of the first universities to use the online W-2, Watson said. She said Pier1 Imports and Alcon, two Fort Worth-based companies, are using the same online W-2 service as TCU.

In addition to the online W-2 service, direct deposit and my.tcu.edu are two examples of TCU’s effort to become safer and more efficient through electronic means, Barr-Majors said.

Those not familiar with computers can call or visit Human Resources.