Form W-2 Filing Responsibilities for Employers

As the year comes to a close, your employees may have questions about their Form W-2s. Read this article to prepare for their questions and learn more about your responsibilities.

As an employer, you have various responsibilities when it comes to filing Form W-2. You need to give a copy to the employee and one to the Social Security Administration. Copies to the Social Security Administration must be accompanied by Form W-3, Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements. You may also have to send a copy of the W-2 to your state (or submit a state-generated form). All of this must be done in an accurate and timely manner, or penalties may result. The upcoming filing season will be here before you know it.

Form W-2 Filing Deadline

As an employer, you must furnish Form W-2 for 2024 compensation to all employees by January 31, 2025. This can be done on paper—in person or through the mail—or electronically if they consented in advance to receive the form in this manner.

Furthermore, you must transmit copies of W-2s to the Social Security Administration along with Form W-3 (a transmittal summarizing the W-2s); the same due date applies. Some states require copies of W-2s, but they have different deadlines.

Note: The same federal filing deadline for Form W-2s applies to Form 1099-NEC issued to independent contractors. The transmittals of 1099-NEC are sent to the IRS (not the Social Security Administration).

Safe Harbor Penalty Relief

You want to report information on a W-2 accurately, but if you make a mistake, there is safe harbor relief for employers regarding penalties for not filing correct forms or providing employees with accurate statements. No penalties apply and no corrected W-2 is necessary if no amount in error differs from the correct amount by more than $100 and no single amount reported for tax withheld differs from the correct amount by more than $25.

If this special safe harbor does not apply, you can still limit penalties considerably if you fall under the de minimis rule for corrections. You must meet all of the following conditions:

• You filed W-2s before the filing due date;
• You did not include the information required or included incorrect information; and
• You submit the corrected forms by August 1.

A corrected form is done on Form W-2c. If you filed the original W-2 electronically, then Form W-2c must also be filed electronically. If the original Form W-2 was permitted to be filed on paper and you filed on paper, then you must file on paper any Form W-2c correcting that form.

Form W-2 Filing Extensions

If you can't meet the January 31 due date for W-2s, you can ask for a 30-day extension by filing Form 8809, Application for Extension of Time to File Information Returns, with the IRS by the filing due date. But this extension is not automatic. It will be granted only in "extraordinary circumstances or catastrophe." (The usual IRS extension relief for victims of disasters does not apply to filing W-2s. You may get a favorable response to an extension request if you suffer a natural disaster, such as a hurricane, flood, or tornado, or if a fire destroys your books and records. On Form 8809, include an explanation of why additional time is needed. The application must be signed under penalty of perjury.

The failure to file the forms promptly triggers a late filing penalty. The longer the delinquency, the higher the penalty may be.

SSN Privacy

While the IRS allows truncated Social Security numbers (SSNs) to be used on certain forms to protect against identity theft (e.g., Form 1099-NEC for independent contractors), truncated SSNs cannot be used on W-2s.

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