How to file W-2 forms Copies to the worker, Copy A to the SSA

What Form W-2 is, and who gets one

Form W-2 is the Wage and Tax Statement. It shows one employee’s pay for the year and the tax you took out of it. The worker uses it to file a personal return. The SSA uses it to credit the worker’s Social Security record. The IRS gets the numbers from the SSA.

The 2026 General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3 say who gets one. File a Form W-2 for each employee if you withheld income tax, Social Security tax, or Medicare tax. If you withheld none of those, you still file one when you paid that person $2,000 or more in wages. That threshold used to be $600. The instructions say Public Law 119-21 raised it to $2,000 for wages paid after calendar year 2025.

Form W-2 is for employees. A contractor you pay does not get one. Independent contractor vs employee is the test for that label. Settle it before January, not while you print forms.

When W-2 forms are due

For 2026 wages, the instructions set one date for both jobs: February 1, 2027.

• Copies B, C, and 2 must reach the employee by February 1, 2027. A form that is correctly addressed and mailed by that date counts as on time.
• Copy A and Form W-3 must reach the SSA by February 1, 2027. That date is the same whether you file on paper or online.

The usual date is January 31. In 2027 that falls on a Sunday, so the date moves to the next business day.

Someone who left during the year can get the form sooner. The instructions say you may give a former employee the copies any time after the job ends, but no later than the February date. If that person asks for the form, give it within 30 days of the request or of the final wage payment, whichever is later.

Which copy goes where

One Form W-2 has several copies. Each copy has its own reader.

Form W-3 is the Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements. It is a cover sheet that adds up every Copy A you send. The instructions say anyone who files Form W-2 must also file Form W-3. If you file online through the SSA, the system builds the Form W-3 for you.

Gather the numbers before you fill in a form

A Form W-2 is the year of paydays added up for one person. If your payroll records are clean, the form is short work. If they are not, fix the records first.

1. Pull each employee’s legal name, address, and Social Security number. Use the name and number on the worker’s Social Security card.
2. Add up gross pay for the year. Gross pay is wages before any tax comes out. Box 1 is wages for federal income tax. Boxes 3 and 5 are wages for Social Security and Medicare. These three boxes can differ, because some pay and some deductions are treated one way for income tax and another way for Social Security and Medicare.
3. Add up what you withheld. Box 2 is federal income tax. Box 4 is the employee’s Social Security tax. Box 6 is the employee’s Medicare tax. Boxes 15 through 17 are state wages and state income tax.
4. Check those totals against your four quarterly returns. Form 941 is the quarterly federal payroll tax return. The instructions say the employer name and employer identification number on Form W-2 and Form W-3 must match the ones on your Form 941. A mismatch there is easier to fix in January than after the forms are filed.

What is withholding tax explains the money in boxes 2, 4, and 6. How to run payroll is one payday, which is where those numbers start.

How to file W-2 forms online with the SSA

Most small employers can file online for free through the SSA’s Business Services Online, or BSO. These are the steps.

1. Sign in with Login.gov or ID.me. The SSA employer page says the old BSO user ID and password no longer open the employer services. You register and sign in with one of those two accounts.
2. Pick the wage reporting service. You can key in each form, or upload a file your payroll software made. The 2026 instructions say the key-in option handles up to 50 Forms W-2. For more than that, use the file upload.
3. Enter or upload the forms. The SSA builds the Form W-3 from them.
4. Submit, and save the receipt. Print or save the employee copies so you can hand them out.

The BSO welcome page says the old W-2 Online tool was replaced. It also says the new tool takes only U.S. domestic wages for now, and that territory wage reporting is expected in early December 2026. If you pay wages in Puerto Rico, Guam, or another territory, check that page before you plan on it.

When you must file online

Paper is allowed only for a small stack. The instructions say you must file Forms W-2 electronically if you file 10 or more information returns in all. That count is not only Forms W-2. It adds Forms 1099, Forms 1095-B and 1095-C, Form W-2G, and other information returns. Corrected returns do not count toward the 10. Once you reach 10, every Form W-2 goes in electronically.

Say you have six employees and you pay five contractors. That is 6 Forms W-2 and 5 Forms 1099-NEC. Eleven returns is past the line, so the Forms W-2 go online.

How to file W-2 forms on paper

Paper works if you file fewer than 10 returns in all. It has three rules people miss.

• Use the official red-ink Copy A, or an approved substitute. The instructions say not to print Copy A of Form W-2 or Form W-3 from IRS.gov and mail it. The SSA reads these forms by machine. You can order the official forms at IRS.gov/OrderForms.
• Do not staple or tear the forms. The instructions say staple holes and tears get in the way of machine reading.
• Mail Copy A and Form W-3 to the SSA, not the IRS. The address in the instructions is Social Security Administration, Direct Operations Center, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18769-0001. Certified mail and private delivery services use different ZIP codes, listed in the same instructions.

You can print the employee copies on plain paper. The red-ink rule is for the copy the SSA reads.

Social Security numbers on the form

The instructions let you cut a worker’s Social Security number down to the last four digits on the employee copies only. Copy A must show the full number. A form you file online must also carry the full number. Do not shorten your employer identification number on any copy. That is the nine-digit federal tax ID the IRS gave the business.

Extensions, and why you should not count on one

There are two different extensions, and neither is automatic.

• More time to file with the SSA. Ask on Form 8809 before the due date. The instructions say the IRS grants it only in limited cases, for extraordinary circumstances or catastrophe. If it is granted, you get 30 more days. The employee copies are still due February 1, 2027.
• More time to give employees their copies. Ask on Form 15397 on or before the due date. The instructions say an approved request is generally for no more than 15 days, unless you clearly show you need up to 30.

Plan for the February date. Treat an extension as an emergency tool.

How to fix a Form W-2

If a filed Form W-2 is wrong, file Form W-2c, the corrected statement, with Form W-3c, its transmittal. Give the employee the corrected copies too. The instructions say that if the original went in electronically, the correction must also go in electronically. If you gave the worker the original electronically, the correction generally goes to them the same way.

Late and wrong forms cost money. The IRS charges a penalty for each Form W-2 that is late, missing, or wrong, both for the SSA copy and for the employee copy. The 2026 instructions say those penalty amounts went up for returns due after December 31, 2026. That covers the forms for 2026 wages.

What your state may want

Federal filing does not cover the state. Copy 1 exists because some states and cities want their own copy, and many states tie it to a yearly withholding return. The state page is where to start.

In New York, the state income tax on the form comes from Form IT-2104, the state withholding certificate. A federal Form W-4 does not replace it. In Illinois, the state amount comes from Form IL-W-4, and you file Form IL-941 for each quarter. In Pennsylvania, the state takes a flat 3.07 percent, and a local earned income tax is a second amount. That local amount belongs in the local boxes, not the state box.

Texas and Florida take no state income tax off the check, so there is no state income tax to report in box 17. You still file the federal Form W-2. California has a state income tax and its own payroll-tax office. Read that page before you assume the federal filing is enough.

Doing it yourself, or letting software do it

You can do all of this by hand. Can I do my own payroll? lays out the full year, including Form 941 and Form 940. Payroll software can file Forms W-2 for you, on the plans whose help pages say so. You still answer for a late or wrong form.

The methodology page grades how much state paperwork software takes off your desk. Gusto is one plain link. Patriot is the other service on this site. Employer payroll taxes percentage covers the share you pay on top of wages, which does not appear as a deduction on the worker’s Form W-2.