The IRS form US employers must issue to each employee by January 31 reporting annual wages and taxes withheld.
Form W-2 (Wage and Tax Statement) is the IRS form US employers must complete for each employee who received $600 or more in wages during a calendar year, plus any employee from whom they withheld federal, Social Security, or Medicare tax. The W-2 reports total wages, federal income tax withheld, Social Security wages and tax, Medicare wages and tax, and state and local income tax information.
Employers must furnish W-2s to employees by January 31 of the year following the tax year and file Copy A with the Social Security Administration by the same date (electronic filing is required for employers filing 10 or more W-2s starting in 2024 per the Taxpayer First Act). Late filing penalties range from $60 to $660 per W-2 depending on lateness and whether the failure was intentional.
Form W-2 differs from Form 1099-NEC, which is used to report payments to independent contractors of $600 or more per year. Misclassifying an employee as a 1099 contractor when they should be a W-2 employee is one of the most common and expensive payroll-tax errors, with penalties for back taxes, FICA, and unemployment insurance. Modern payroll software auto-generates W-2s and electronically files them with the SSA.
Each January, our payroll system generates W-2s for all 240 employees and files them electronically with the SSA.
Peoplifi unifies HR, payroll, time tracking, and performance into one modern platform — so concepts like W-2 stay handled, not stuck in spreadsheets.
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