A W-2 Form: What Is It?

Important details regarding your income from your company, the amount of taxes deducted from your paycheck, the perks you received, and other information for the year are displayed on a w2 forms online form. You submit your state and federal taxes using this form.

What is Form W-2?

Employers are required by the IRS to use Form W-2 to record pay and compensation information for their employees. Important information on the amount of federal, state, and other taxes deducted from your paycheck as well as other employer-sponsored benefits including health insurance, aid with adoption and dependent care, contributions to your health savings account, and more are also included on your W-2. When completing your tax return as an employee, the data on your W-2 is crucial.

Generally speaking, your employer should send you a W-2 close to the start of the next year if you were employed during that particular year.

In 2024, when are W-2s due?

The IRS mandates that your employer provide you a W-2 by January 31st after the end of the calendar year in order to guarantee that you receive it in time. W-2s are typically mailed by January 31st, however employees may not always get them by then.

Form 8809, Application for Extension of Time to File Information Returns, can be submitted to request a 30-day extension of the deadline for filing W-2 forms with the IRS and the Social Security Administration (SSA), which employers must do by January 31st. You must state that at least one of the requirements for a request for an extension is met.

Unless you additionally seek for an extension to send W-2s to your employees beyond the due date, you must still give your employees copies of their W-2s by January 31st, even if you request and obtain an extension to file W-2s.

Unless you fax a letter to the IRS demonstrating a necessity for a 30-day extension, you can request a 15-day extension to submit W-2s to your employees.

How to proceed if your W-2 has not arrived

Get in touch with your employer if you haven’t gotten your W-2 before the beginning of February. They may be able to provide you an electronic copy to use until the physical copy arrives in the mail.

How to proceed if you discover a mistake on your W-2

Inform your employer and request a new W-2 if you get yours and discover a mistake on the form, such as a misspelled name, an erroneous social security number, an improper dollar amount, or another problem.

A Form W-2 is given to whom?

Only if you are employed should you obtain a W-2.

You could get more than one W-2 if you:

changed employment throughout the year.

have many positions where you are seen as an employee.

The business you were employed by was purchased by another business.

How is a W-2 used?

Employers fill out Form W-2, which includes crucial information you need to finish your tax return. Along with the amount of federal, state, and other taxes deducted from your paycheck, it shows your total earnings for the year. It could also include details regarding:

advice

payments made to a 401(k)

money deposited into a health savings fund

payments for health insurance that your employer covers

a number of additional details

How Form W-2 is read

A-F boxes

All of your employer’s and your personal identifying information is contained in these W-2 boxes. Your employer’s employer identification number (EIN) (Box B), name and address (Box C), and control number (Box D), if applicable, are also displayed here, along with your social security number (Box A), name (Box E), and address (Box F).

First and second boxes

Your entire taxable income, including any wages, salaries, tips, bonuses, and other taxable compensation, is provided in Box 1 by your employer. The entire amount of federal income tax that your employer has withheld on your behalf is displayed in Box 2.

Boxes 3–6

The amount of your wages that are subject to Medicare and Social Security taxes is displayed in Boxes 3 and 5, respectively. The amount of Social Security and Medicare taxes withheld is displayed in Boxes 4 and 6. It’s possible that the amounts in boxes three and five differ from those in box one. This frequently occurs when you postpone income, such as when you make contributions to a 401(k) or other such plan.

Boxes 7 and 8

If you received tips, the amount reported in tips is shown in Box 7, and the amount your employer gave you in tips is shown in Box 8.

Box 9

An employment perk that was previously mentioned in the box is no longer available. This causes the box to be grayed out.

Box 10

Box 10 indicates the amount if your employer paid for or offered dependent care benefits.

Box Eleven

This information is recorded in Box 11 if your company paid you certain deferred compensation income from a non-qualified plan.

Box 12

You will record any additional remuneration or decreases in your taxable income in the Box 12 series. For example, contributions to a 401(k) plan, employer-sponsored contributions to a health savings account, or the taxable cost of group-term life insurance above $50,000 will all have a single or double letter code.

13th Box

Whether you participated in an employer-sponsored retirement plan, such as a 403(b) or 401(k), got sick pay from a third-party source, such as an insurance policy, or worked as a statutory employee exempt from federal income tax withholding is disclosed in Box 13.

Box 14

Your employer may submit additional tax information in Box 14 if it doesn’t fit in the other W-2 boxes. State disability insurance taxes withdrawn, union dues, uniform payments, deducted health insurance premiums, and more are a few examples.

15–20 boxes

Your employer reports state and local income tax information using Boxes 15-20. They include your employer’s state ID number, which is provided by the state, along with the two-letter abbreviation for your state’s name. Wages for two states and two locations can be reported in these boxes.

Your employer must generate a second Form W-2 for you to utilize if they need to submit information for more than two states or municipalities.