Tax Deadlines Approach for Businesses

The time for employers to file wage statement documents with the Social Security Administration is days away. 

Employers are required to file Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statements, and Form W-3, Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements with the Social Security Administration by Jan. 31.

Employers must also give employers Form W-2 by the same date.  

The IRS and SSA encourage employers to e-file for the quickest and most convenient way to file the forms. 

The IRS said filing the documents timely helps employers avoid penalties. 

The Jan. 31 deadline also allows the IRS to better detect taxpayer refund fraud.

With employers filing first, the IRS can verify income that individual taxpayers report on their tax returns. 

Key Considerations

There are a number of key aspects to filing that employers should remember: 

• Make sure the employer identification number on wage and tax statements match the employer identification number the IRS assigned. 
• Make sure the employer identification number on payroll tax statements match the employer identification number the IRS assigned. 
• General instruction forms for using different employer identification numbers for various reasons can be found online.
• Employers can request a Form W-2 30-day extension by submitting Form 8809, Application for Extension of Time to File Information Returns by Jan. 31 if one of the criteria in Form 8809, Sect. 7 is met.  
• There is a separate extension to get Form W-2 to employees.