It is your responsibility as an employer to file Copy A of Form W-2,
Wage and Tax Statement, with the Social Security Administration (SSA)
for your employees, showing the wages paid and taxes withheld for the
year. Since Form W-2
is the only document used to transmit information on your employees'
social security and Medicare wages for the year, it is very important
to prepare the forms correctly and timely.
There are separate instructions for Form W-2 titled Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3.
Use Form W-3, Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements, as a cover sheet when filing one or more Form W-2 with SSA.
Be sure to order them when you order your W-2 forms. If you have questions about particular box on form, refer to instructions, which give a detailed explanation of each bod.
Here are a few important items to keep in mind when preparing Form W-2:
- Type all entries using black ink and, if possible, a 10-point courier font.
- Do not use dollar signs or commas, but do use decimal points followed by cents(or zeroes for no cents).
- Please do not make any erasures, cross-outs, or white-outs. Copy A,
which is the first page, must be error free. If you make an error on a form,
put an "X" in the "Void" box, and go to the next Form W-2, and start again.
Do not mark the next W-2 as corrected.
- Form W-2 is printed with two forms on a page. Send in the whole Copy A
page (the page printed with red ink) even if one form is blank or void.
Do not cut or fold the page nor staple Form W-2 to each other or Form W-3.
The official Form W-2, comes in 6 copies. Copy A must be sent to the Social
Security Administration with the transmittal Form W-3 by February 28, 2001. Form W-3 is used to
transmit the Form W-2 and contains figures reflecting the box totals of all the Form W-2 being sent.
The address for mailing Copy A of the Forms W-2 and or W-3 is listed in the separate Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3.
Keep Copy D of Form W-2 for your own records. Send Copy 1 to your
State Tax Department. Contact that Department for requirements and
transmittal information. You must give the remaining copies to the
employee by January 31, 2001. If an employee stops working for you
before the end of the year, you may give him or her (your former
employee) Form W-2 anytime prior to January 31, 2001, unless he asks for the
Form W-2 prior to the end of the year. If the employee asks for the Form W-2,
you must give the copies to the employee within 30 days of the request,
or within 30 days of the final wage payment, whichever is later.
The totals for amounts reported on the related Form 941, Form 943 or Schedule H of Form 1040 for the year should equal those
same totals reported on your Form W-2. If the totals do not agree, you should make
corrections. If you discover an error on an employee's Form W-2 after
sending it to the Social Security Administration, you should submit
a Form W-2c,
Corrected Wage and Tax Statement. You must submit a transmittal Form W-3c with the Forms W-2c, unless you are changing only the employee's name or social security number.
All employers may file Form W-2 on magnetic media or electronically. However,
employers filing 250 or more Form W-2 must file using magnetic media (or electronically)
unless granted a waiver by the IRS. For more information on magnetic
media or electronic filing, select topics 801, 802, 803, 804 and 805. Additionally, by
using a personal computer and a modem, you may obtain additional
information on magnetic media or electronic filing of Form W-2 from the SSA's Online Wage
Reporting Service, or OWRS. You can access OWRS by dialing
(410) 966-8450. This is not a toll-free number. You can also get
magnetic media (or electronic) specifications by contacting an SSA
Employer Service Liaison Officer, or ESLO. Call 1-800-772-6270 for
the phone number of the ESLO in your area.
Form W-2 and W-3 (and the separate Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3) can be
ordered by calling 1-800-829-3676, or by visiting our web site at
www.irs.gov. You may also want to order Publication 15 Circular E, Employer's Tax Guide,
Publication 15-A, Employer's Supplemental Tax Guide, and Publication 393, Federal Employment Tax Forms.
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