As an employer, you are required to file Copy A of IRS Form W-2 on behalf of your employees.
These forms are to filed with the social security Administration and must show the employees' wages paid and taxes withheld for the year.
Because the W-2 form is the only form used to communicate information about your employees' Medicare and Social Security taxes, it is important that they be filed properly and in a timely fashion.
You want to use form W-3, "Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements", as a cover sheet when preparing W-2 forms with the SSA.
You can order form W-3 when ordering W-2 forms from the IRS.
When preparing your W-2 forms, use black ink to type in the information in 12- point Courier font.
When indicating sums of money, use decimal points followed by cents or zeros if there are no cents.
Do not use dollar signs or commas.
Cross outs, erasures, or white outs are not acceptable.
Copy A must be free of errors.
In the event that you make a mistake, place an "x" in the void box and go on to the next W-2 form.
Do not mark this W-2 "corrected".
There are two forms per page on a W-2.
Submit the entire Copy A page (it is in red) even if one of the forms is void or blank.
Do not cut or fold pages.
Do not staple W-2 forms together or to Form W-3.
Form W-2 comes in six copies.
Copy a must be sent to the SSA, along with Form W-3 before the last day of February in the succeeding the year to which the forms pertain.
Special due dates will apply if your business has been terminated.
Form W-3 is used to transmit forms W-2 and must contain figures reflecting the box totals of the all the w-2 forms submitted.
You must keep copy D of forms W-2 for your own records and submit Copy1 to your state tax offices.
The remaining copies of Form W-2 must be given to the employee by January 31st of the succeeding year the form addresses.
If the employee no longer works for you, you may give them their copies of Form W-2 at any time prior to January 31st, but no later than that date.
If you discover an error on a W-2 form after it has been submitted, you will need to submit Form W-2,c in order to correct the error.
You will also need to submit transmittal Form W-3,c along with any forms W-2,c.
Employers filing 250 W-2 forms or more are required to do so electronically, unless they are granted a waiver.