The Facts About W-2 Form Everybody Should Know

by David Smith Personal finance consultant

The W-2 tax form is the document, used to report withholding to the IRS. This template is not big in size but still is quite informative. It helps to identify what payments from your paycheck. Everybody understands he can not remember the full list of withholdings, made during the tax year and remember correct numerals. It means your employer has to provide you with this correct, up to date information for you to be able to file other tax return templates correctly and do not have penalties and misunderstandings with the Internal Revenue Service.

The Structure of W-2 Form

Being quite short in size, this document has very important information, needed to define the taxpayer and check his or her payments to the state and local budget. The document includes the following information:

First of all, this document contains Employee Identification Number.
Also, it has the Employer’s Identification Number, as well as his/her full name, contact information, address and ZIP code.
Secondly, the employee’s first name, last name, and initials provided.
Next, goes address and ZIP code.
The right part starts with social security tips, wages, and federal withholding.
Also, itemize the special tips like Medicare, Social Security, Allocated tips.
The special withholdings like dependent care benefits and non-qualified plans also included in the document.
The bottom of the page contains the detailed state and local wages and taxes, the employer paid for the employee.

What is the Fastest Way to Complete the Document?

According to official IRS website If you file 250 or more W-2 forms, you must file all them electronically. Both, those who have not enough time to file the template in time and those who want to speed up the sample completion and sharing processes has a good chance to succeed in it. Since IRS started to process documents digitally, the form templates are available for everyone. The fastest and the easiest way to fill out the W-2 form electronically is to use PDFfiller online solution. On top of the editing options, this service has the opportunity of sending the document both directly to Internal Revenue and every employee. Once the PDF sample completed you can easily share it by e-mail, avoiding additional actions. It helps both to save time and eliminate problems with paper copies. Those who want to file a document on paper may use the special option, that helps to print all information on the cells of the original blank.

Who and When Should Complete the W-2 Tax Form?

This form is filed only by employers who hire individuals as employees, not as independent contractors. The company is obliged to complete the sample for each employee and do it in the terms, defined by the tax report deadlines. For 2018 it is necessary to complete and file the template before the thirty-first of January 2019. The self-employed individuals or independent contractors report their taxes with W-9 form.