Form W-2: Wage and Tax Statement

You file Form W-2 if you had one or more employees you paid for services in your trade or business during 2026, including noncash payments. You complete one for each employee, even an employee related to you. Anyone required to file Form W-2 must also file Form W-3 to transmit Copy A. Household employers file Form W-3 too, even with only one household employee, and check the Hshld. emp. box.

Only very limited situations let you skip the form. That can happen when you withheld no income, social security, or Medicare tax and you paid the employee less than $2,000, such as for certain election workers and certain foreign agricultural workers.

• You withheld any income, social security, or Medicare tax, no matter the amount of wages
• You would have had to withhold income tax if the employee had not claimed exemption on Form W-4
• You paid $2,000 or more in wages even though you withheld no tax

By February 1, 2027, furnish Copies B, C, and 2 to each person who was your employee during 2026. Mail or electronically file Copy A with Form W-3 with the SSA by that same date, whether you use paper or e-file. If employment ended before December 31, 2026, you may hand the copies over any time after it ends, but no later than February 1, 2027. If an employee asks for the form, give them the completed copies within 30 days of the request or of the final wage payment, whichever is later.

Extensions are not automatic. You may request one 30-day extension to file with the SSA on Form 8809, signed under penalties of perjury, and the IRS grants it only in extraordinary circumstances or catastrophe. Even with that extension, you still furnish Forms W-2 to employees by February 1, 2027. For more time to furnish employee copies, submit Form 15397 on or before the furnishing due date. If approved, that extension generally runs no more than 15 days, unless you clearly show a need for up to 30 days.

Copy A goes to the Social Security Administration with Form W-3, not to the IRS. Paper filers send it to Social Security Administration, Direct Operations Center, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18769-0001. For Certified Mail, change the ZIP code to 18769-0002. Copy 1 goes to your state, city, or local tax department if required. Copies B, C, and 2 go to your employee, and Copy D is yours. Keep a copy of Copy A and Form W-3 with your records for at least 4 years.

If you file at least 10 information returns in total for the year, you must file Forms W-2 electronically. When you e-file with the SSA, no separate Form W-3 filing is required, because an electronic Form W-3 gets created for you. The SSA's W-2 Online service handles up to 50 Forms W-2 at a time. Do not print Copy A from a website and file it with the SSA, since it cannot be scanned. Order the official scannable forms if you file on paper. If you are required to e-file, you can request a waiver on Form 8508 at least 45 days before the due date.

• Do not send cash, checks, or money orders with the forms you submit to the SSA
• Do not cut, fold, or staple paper Copy A, and do not mail any other copy to the SSA
• Do not file the same returns on paper if you already e-filed them

Box 14 is split in two. What used to be reported in box 14, Other, now goes in box 14a, and the new box 14b holds Treasury Tipped Occupation Codes. Box 9 was reduced in size so an extra entry fits in box 14a. Three box 12 codes are new: TP for the total cash tips reported to you, TT for total qualified overtime compensation, and TA for employer contributions under a section 128 Trump account contribution program.

For wages paid after calendar year 2025, the wage reporting threshold rises from $600 to $2,000 when no federal income, social security, or Medicare tax was withheld, and that threshold gets adjusted for inflation each calendar year after 2026. Failure to file and failure to furnish penalties rose with inflation, and the higher amounts apply to returns required to be filed after December 31, 2026. Under the state Paid Family and Medical Leave Act rules, you include the employee contribution and the employer voluntary payment as wages on Form W-2.

• Employer Trump account contributions of up to $2,500 a year are allowed beginning July 4, 2026, toward a $5,000 annual limit
• The qualified tip deduction covers up to $25,000 of qualified tips on the worker's own return
• The qualified overtime deduction covers up to $12,500, or $25,000 for a joint return
• Forms W-2, W-3, and W-2c show the new OMB Number 1545-0029

A handful of situations come up every year. If you find an error before you send the form to the SSA, check the VOID box on the incorrect Copy A, prepare a new Form W-2, and write CORRECTED on the employee's new copies. Once the SSA has the form, fix a name, SSN, or money amount with Form W-2c and Form W-3c, and give the employee copies. If only the employee's address was wrong, you do not file Form W-2c with the SSA.

If an employee loses a Form W-2, write REISSUED STATEMENT on the new copy and furnish it, and do not send Copy A to the SSA again. If you need to report more than four coded items in box 12, use a second Form W-2 with the same entries in boxes a through f. If you terminate your business, provide Forms W-2 to employees and file them with the SSA by the due date of your final Form 941 or 944.

• An employee died during 2026: payments made after the death in the same year go in boxes 3, 4, 5, and 6, not box 1
• Tipped work: report cash tips with code TP and up to two occupation codes in box 14b
• Clergy and religious workers not subject to social security and Medicare taxes: leave boxes 3 and 5 blank
• An employee has no income tax withheld: tell them about the earned income tax credit, using the notice on the back of Copy B or Notice 797
• Copies you tried but could not deliver: keep them for 4 years and do not send them to the SSA