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How to Fill Out W-2 Form: Box-by-Box Walkthrough

Q: How do you file your W-2 yourself?

YIndividuals don’t file their own W-2 Forms. This is done by the employer. If you are a freelancer, an entrepreneur, or a sole proprietor, your income is reported through the business, not as earnings on a W-2. You would use a 1099 Form instead.

April 2, 2024

How to Fill Out W-2 Form: A Detailed Guide (2021)

The W-2 Form is a tax form that employers complete for their employees. It tells the IRS how much the employee earned and the amount of federal income taxes withheld and remitted to the IRS. Also listed is information about pre-tax benefits, third-party sick pay, Social Security wages, Medicare wages, the employee retirement plan, and other compensation.

Only employees who have earned a minimum of $600 throughout the year, or anyone who had Medicare, or Social Security taxes withheld need a W-2 form.

In this article, we’ll go through the form box-by-box, to explain how to fill out W-2 forms so that you’re better equipped to navigate questions if they come up and verify that the form is completed correctly.

Key Takeaways

Form W-2 is an essential document employers must provide their employees annually.
Almost anyone hired as an employee in the U.S. will receive a W-2 form.
The deadline for an employer to provide employees with a copy of your Form W-2 is January 31st of the following year.
The quickest way to receive a copy of your Form W-2 is to ask your employer or HR department.
Form W-2 is simple to fill out when you take it step-by-step and read the instructions thoroughly.
W-2s report employees’ wages and taxes withheld to the IRS.

Table of Contents

What Is a W-2 Form?
How To Obtain Your Form W-2
How To Fill Out Your W-2 Form
How To Deal With An Incorrect W-2
Simplify Your W-2 Process with FreshBooks
Frequently Asked Questions

NOTE: FreshBooks Support team members are not certified income tax or accounting professionals and cannot provide advice in these areas, outside of supporting questions about FreshBooks. If you need income tax advice please contact an accountant in your area.

What Is a W-2 Form?

Form W-2 is an important document that reports the income an employee has earned at your company, as well as how much federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, insurance premiums, retirement plan contributions, etc. were withheld from an employee’s wages. In short, the form is used to report an employee’s income for federal income tax purposes.

The objective of Form W-2 is to report an employee’s annual gross income to the IRS while giving a full description of the amount of the taxes withheld by the employer. This information tells the IRS what the employee’s estimated income tax liability is and whether they owe income taxes or are entitled to a tax refund.

How To Obtain Your Form W-2

Your employer will give you a copy of your Form W-2 Wage and Tax Statement and this is the quickest way to obtain it. 1 If the form is not available online, it must be mailed or hand-delivered to you by January 31st of the following year. 2 If you don’t receive your copy in the mail by mid-February, you should check in with your company’s HR department to ensure they have mailed it out and that they have your correct address. They may also give you instructions on how to access your Form W-2 online.

If your Form W-2 still has yet to arrive, you should contact the IRS as a delay in receiving your W-2 may put you in danger of missing the income tax return filing deadline unless you are proactive in letting the IRS know.

How To Fill Out Your W-2 Form

If you find the instructions provided by the IRS on Form W-2 hard to follow, here are the main points to make the form easier to complete as a small business owner. 3

Box A — Social Security Number

Include the employee’s Social Security number (SSN). Here’s a handy tool to find SSNs.

Box B — Employer Identification Number (EIN)

Enter your specific Employer Identification Number. It’s a common mistake to include an employee’s Social Security number here.

Waiting on your EIN? Write “Applied for.”

Box C — Employer’s Name, Address, and ZIP code
Enter the name of your company and its legal address.
Box D — Control Number

The control number is optional.

Boxes E and F — Employee Name and Address

Enter employee names as shown on your Forms 941, 943, 944, CT-1, or Schedule H (Form 1040). If the name of an employee is too long, put the initials of their first and middle name. It’s more important to have the full last name of your employee on IRS Form W-2.

Box 1 — Wages, Tips, and Other Compensation

Include wages, tips, and other compensation that are subject to federal income tax. Click here to learn more information about Box 1 of Form W2.

Box 2 — Federal Income Tax Withheld

Enter the amount of federal income taxes that have been withheld from the employee’s paychecks throughout the year.

Box 3 — Social Security Wages

Include the total wages subject to Social Security tax. There’s a chance this number will be different from box 1. The Social Security Administration doesn’t require employees to pay Social Security taxes on wages above $160,200 in 2023.

Box 4 — Social Security Tax Withheld

The same concept applies here as box 2. Be sure to only include the amount paid by your employee, not your share. Generally, employers split Social Security and Medicare taxes owed (box 6) 50/50 with the employee.

Box 5 — Medicare Wages and Tips

The amount of wages subject to Medicare tax is the same as the wages subject to Social Security tax. The only difference is that there’s no wage limit on Medicare tax.

Box 6 — Medicare Tax Withheld

This is the same concept as box 4.

Box 7 — Social Security Tips

Enter the tips your employee reported to you. Include the amount in boxes 1 and 5. Box 3 plus 7 shouldn’t exceed $160,200.

Box 8 — Allocated Tips

This box only applies to large food or beverage establishments.

Box 9 – Blank:
You can leave this box blank.
Box 10 — Dependent Care Benefits

Include dependent care benefits in this box. When calculating dependent care amounts remember that benefits over $5,000 are taxable so include the excess in boxes 1, 3, and 5.

Box 11 — Nonqualified Plans

Report nonqualified plan contributions like salary reduction plans. Include these in Form W-2 box 1.

Box 12 — Codes

Include up to 4 codes on a single W-2 form. For more codes, you’ll need another W-2 form. Put code on the left of the line, and the amount on the right. The code letter does not relate at all to the box’s letter in Form W-2. For example, you can insert code B on box 12A.

As of 2024, there is a new code II for Medicaid waiver payments excluded from gross employee income and a new code II for box 12 used to report Medicaid waiver payments that were not included in box 1.

The detailed instructions for each code are available on the IRS website.

Box 13 — Checkboxes

Check the first box if you’re preparing Form W-2 for a statutory employee (a certain type of independent contractor).

Check “retirement plan” if you entered code D or E in box 12.

Check the third box if reporting sick pay payments made by a third party.

Box 14 — Other

Use this box to report other information given to the employee (for example, state disability insurance taxes withheld).

Boxes 15 Through 20 — State and Local Specific

Complete these boxes if you have a state income tax (don’t forget the employer’s state ID number). If boxes don’t apply to you, leave them blank. Do you need to report more than 2 states? If so, you’ll need a separate W-2 form.

Include your state ID number (state EIN) on box 15. For boxes 16 to 20, follow a similar process as boxes 1 to 4. Some wages may be exempt from federal income tax, but not state income tax, so boxes 16 and 1 may differ.

Some new regulations in 2024 regarding Form W-2 include:

Employers with 10 or more employees must file Forms W-2 electronically.
The IRS will impose higher penalties on employers who fail to provide W-2 Forms on time.
Disaster tax relief is available for businesses located at the site of floods, severe snow storms, mudslides, and landslides, which gives employers more time for time-sensitive administrative tasks like sending W-2 forms.
There is a new limit on health-flexible spending arrangement (FSA), disallowing a cafeteria plan to let an employee request salary reduction contributions above $3,200.
Additional Medicare Tax must be applied at a rate of 0.9% on any Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) wages or Railroad Retirement Tax Act (RRTA) compensation. The employer must withhold Additional Medicare Tax when the compensation or pay is more than $200,000, and continue to withhold it for the rest of that tax year. 4

How To Deal With An Incorrect W-2

If you are an employee whose W-2 Form is incorrect, your employer can issue a new, corrected form—you just have to let them know. If they refuse to give you a correct W-2, call the IRS toll-free at 800-829-1040 to make a Form W-2 complaint. The IRS will help you from there. 5

If, as an employer, you made a mistake because you weren’t sure how to file a W-2, don’t panic. It is possible to correct this mistake, even if you’ve already filed it with the Social Security Administration (SSA). Simply create a new, amended Form W-2 and ensure the IRS receives it as soon as possible. You may be subject to a penalty if the form is not filed with the correct information by the end of January.

Simplify Your W-2 Process with FreshBooks

As a business owner, you should know how to fill out a W2 for a single employee, or your entire team. Even if you’re not in charge of payroll and taxes, it’s always a good idea to have fundamental knowledge about tax forms in case an employee has a question or needs help.

Once you know the basics, let payroll software do the rest. FreshBooks Payroll software can help you keep track of your payroll expenses and ensure all employee taxes are ready for tax time. Make life easier for yourself and try FreshBooks free today.

FAQs About Form How to Fill Out W-2

We hope that this article has answered your questions about how to file taxes with W2 forms. For more insight, please read the answers to these frequently asked questions below.

What is a W2 form used for?

Form W-2 is a tax document your employer fills out to let the IRS know how much money you’ve earned in the year, tax withholding information, the pretax benefits that your employer provided to you, and other information.

Do you fill out the W-2 yourself?

No, your HR department or employer will fill out the W-2 for you. There is no need to know how to fill out a w2 as an employee, as it’s your employer’s responsibility. That said, you should double-check that all of the information is correct.

What are the rules for filing a W-2?

The most important rule for filing W-2 forms is that Copy A must be submitted by mail or electronically to the SSA with the transmittal form by January 31st at the latest. Copies B, C, and 2 must go to your employee before February 1st as well.

How do you file your W-2 yourself?

Individuals don’t file their own W-2 Forms. This is done by the employer. If you are a freelancer, an entrepreneur, or a sole proprietor, your income is reported through the business, not as earnings on a W-2. You would use a 1099 Form instead.

What is the difference between a W-2 and a W-4?

The difference between a W-2 and W-4 is that the employer completes the W-2, and sends it to the SSA to report an employee’s earnings, and how much tax withholding was taken off paychecks. The employee completes Form W-4 when they first start a job, to tell the employer how much tax to withhold from their paychecks.

Article Sources

IRS. “Transcript or Copy of Form W-2” Accessed March 04, 2024.
SSA. “Deadline Dates to File W-2s” Accessed March 04, 2024.
IRS. “2024 General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3” Accessed March 04, 2024.
IRS. “Questions and Answers for the Additional Medicare Tax” Accessed March 04, 2024.
IRS. “W-2 Additional, Incorrect, Lost, Non-Receipt, Omitted” Accessed March 04, 2024.

Sandra Habiger, CPA

About the author

Sandra Habiger is a Chartered Professional Accountant with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Washington. Sandra’s areas of focus include advising real estate agents, brokers, and investors. She supports small businesses in growing to their first six figures and beyond. Alongside her accounting practice, Sandra is a Money and Life Coach for women in business.