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IRS Form

Wage and Tax Statement

File W-2 Online

E-file W-2 for every employee you withheld income, Social Security or Medicare tax from, whatever the amount, and for wages of $2,000 or more (if no tax withheld) during the 2026 tax year. TaxFormHero offers bulk import from Excel with state boxes included, secure transmission to the SSA, and a filing deadline of February 1, 2027. E-filing starts from $2.99 a form with no signup fee or ongoing subscription requirements.

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E-File Deadline
February 1, 2027
Reporting Threshold
$2,000 or more (if no tax withheld)
Who Files
Employers for all employees

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A payer is the business the forms are filed under — the name and tax ID that appear on every 1099 and W‑2 you send.

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How to File Form W-2: Step by Step

File your W-2s with the Social Security Administration in about 10 minutes on TaxFormHero. No software to install, no subscription — create an account and follow these six steps.

  • 1
    Create your free account

    Sign up at TaxFormHero — there is no signup fee and no subscription. You only pay when you transmit a form. Existing users can log in and go straight to the dashboard.

  • 2
    Add your employer details

    Enter the employer's legal name, EIN, address, and the kind of payer and kind of employer codes. Get the legal name and EIN right and keep them consistent with the employer's federal records; a mismatch can cause filing errors or processing delays.

  • 3
    Add your employees

    Add employees one at a time, or bulk import your whole payroll using our Excel/CSV template. Pull each employee's legal name, SSN, and address from their Form W-4 and your payroll records.

    Tip: a name/SSN mismatch is an important error to catch before you file. Verify names exactly as printed on the employee's Social Security card — no nicknames, no married-name changes that were never filed with SSA.
  • 4
    Enter wages and withholding

    Report Box 1 wages, tips and other compensation, Box 2 federal income tax withheld, Boxes 3–6 social security and Medicare wages and tax, Boxes 7–8 social security tips and allocated tips, Box 10 dependent care benefits, Box 11 nonqualified plans, Box 12 coded amounts, Box 13 the statutory employee, retirement plan and third-party sick pay checkboxes, and Boxes 15–20 state and local information.

    For tax year 2026, Box 14 is split into Box 14a (Other) and Box 14b (Treasury tipped occupation code), and two new Box 12 codes apply: TP for total cash tips reported to the employer and TT for qualified overtime compensation.

  • 5
    Review, validate, and choose add-ons

    Built-in validation checks SSNs, box math, and social security wage-base limits before submission. Preview the employee copy, then add State Filing, Print & Mail, or E-Delivery if you want us to distribute copies.

  • 6
    Transmit to the SSA and track status

    We transmit W-2 data directly to the Social Security Administration and handle Form W-3 for you — there is no separate transmittal to prepare. Status updates in the dashboard within 24 hours, and filing data and PDF copies stay available for 4 years.

    Deadline: W-2s are due to both the SSA and your employees by February 1, 2027. There is no extended deadline for e-filers. Employers filing 10 or more information returns in aggregate must file electronically.
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W-2 thresholds and deadlines by tax year

Payments made in General Form W-2 threshold E-file deadline
2026 $2,000 or more (if no tax withheld) February 1, 2027 Filed with the SSA, not the IRS
2025 $600 or more (if no tax withheld) February 2, 2026
2024 and earlier Generally $600 or more (if no tax withheld) Check the deadline for that tax year Filing late or amending an older year

A deadline that lands on a weekend moves to the next business day, which is why neither date above reads 31 January.

What is Form W-2?

Form W-2, also known as the Wage and Tax Statement, is a document that employers send to each employee and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

  • It shows the income earned from an employer and the amount of taxes withheld from an employee's paycheck.
  • Taxpayers use Form W-2 to file federal and state taxes.

Who needs to file Form W-2?

  • You withheld any income, social security, or Medicare tax from the employee's wages, regardless of the amount of wages.
  • You would have had to withhold income tax if the employee had not claimed exemption from withholding on Form W-4 (or, for 2019 and earlier Forms W-4, had claimed no more than one withholding allowance). This test is easy to miss, and it means an exempt-from-withholding employee is not automatically outside the W-2 rules.
  • You paid the employee $2,000 or more in wages for the year even though you did not withhold any income, social security, or Medicare tax.
  • Any one of the three is enough on its own, and all three apply even if the employee is related to the employer.

What's New for Tax Year 2026

Wage reporting threshold increased: for wages paid after 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (P.L. 119-21) raised the threshold for reporting wages on Form W-2 when no federal income, social security, or Medicare tax was withheld from $600 to $2,000. The threshold will be adjusted for inflation starting in 2027.

New boxes for tips and overtime: Box 14 has been split into Box 14a (Other) and Box 14b (Treasury Tipped Occupation Code). New Box 12 codes TP (total cash tips reported to the employer) and TT (qualified overtime compensation) support the new deductions for qualified tips and qualified overtime pay.

Two further 2026 changes affect fewer employers. Box 12 also gains code TA, for employer contributions under a section 128 Trump account contribution program paid to a Trump account of an employee or a dependent of an employee. And the 2026 instructions add guidance on reporting wages under a state paid family and medical leave program. Neither changes what most employers file, but both are in the current IRS instructions.

W-2 Pricing

$2.99 per W-2 form No signup fee · No subscription · Volume pricing down to $0.60

Volume pricing — each band charged at its own rate

Volume band Charged at Price per form
First 50 forms 1–50 $2.99
Next 100 forms 51–150 $1.99
Next 350 forms 151–500 $0.99
Beyond 500 every form after $0.60

What 750 W-2 forms actually costs

First 50 forms at $2.99 $149.50
Next 100 forms at $1.99 $199.00
Next 350 forms at $0.99 $346.50
Final 250 forms at $0.60 $150.00
Total — an average of $1.13 per form $845.00

Optional add-ons

State Filing $0.99 / form

Direct filing for 41+ states. CFSF states are always free.

Print & Mail $1.69 / form

USPS first-class recipient copies from a SOC 2 audited facility.

E-Delivery $0.19 / form

Encrypted PDF copies emailed to your recipients.

TIN Matching $0.49 / check

Validate name/TIN pairs before filing to avoid penalties.

Included at no extra cost

  • Direct SSA e-filing, plus Form W-3 handling
  • Free employee PDF copies to download and share
  • Bulk Excel/CSV import and built-in error validation
  • Secure storage of your filing data for 4 years

W-2, W-2C, 1095-B, 1095-C forms share this tier table. Volume tiers are counted per form type within a filing, so a large batch of W-2 reaches the cheapest band on its own.

Estimate Your Filing Cost

Frequently Asked Questions: Filing W-2 Online

Common questions about e-filing Form W-2 with TaxFormHero. Still stuck? Contact our support team or browse the full FAQ page.

Every employer engaged in a trade or business, for each employee to whom any of three tests applies. First, you withheld any income, social security, or Medicare tax, whatever the wage amount. Second, you would have had to withhold income tax if the employee had not claimed exemption from withholding on Form W-4 — the test most often overlooked. Third, you paid the employee $2,000 or more in wages even though you withheld none of those taxes. Any one is enough, and all three apply even to employees who are related to you.

February 1, 2027 for both the Social Security Administration copy and the employee copy. Unlike most 1099 forms, the W-2 has no extended deadline for e-filers — the SSA and employee deadlines are the same day. The February 1 date is not arbitrary: January 31, 2027 falls on a Sunday, and the IRS General Instructions for Certain Information Returns say, "If the regular due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday in the District of Columbia or where the return is to be filed, file by the next business day."

The SSA. Employers file Form W-2 with the Social Security Administration, which then shares the data with the IRS. TaxFormHero transmits directly to the SSA on your behalf.

The reporting threshold for wages when no federal income, social security, or Medicare tax was withheld rose from $600 to $2,000 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (P.L. 119-21), indexed for inflation from 2027. Box 14 is now split into Box 14a (Other) and Box 14b (Treasury tipped occupation code), and new Box 12 codes TP (total cash tips reported to the employer) and TT (qualified overtime compensation) support the new deductions for qualified tips and overtime.

W-2 pricing starts at $2.99 per form for your first 50 forms, dropping to $1.99 (51–150), $0.99 (151–500), and $0.60 (500+). W-2, W-2C, 1095-B and 1095-C use this tier table; 1099 and 1098 forms are priced separately, and Form 8809 is a flat $2.99 rather than a banded form. No signup fee and no subscription.

You do not prepare or mail a paper Form W-3 when you e-file W-2s. The transmittal information is still required, and it is submitted electronically with the wage report — TaxFormHero generates and sends it for you.

They are two different requests. An extension of time to file W-2s with the SSA is requested on Form 8809 and is not automatic — it is granted only in limited circumstances, so plan on the February 1 date. An extension of time to furnish the employee copies is a separate request, made on Form 15397, Application for Extension of Time to Furnish Recipient Statements.

Most states with an income tax require an annual W-2 reconciliation. We support direct state filing for 41+ states at $0.99 per form. See our State Filing page to check your state.

Yes. Download our Excel/CSV template from the dashboard and import your entire employee roster in one upload. The template includes field-level notes for every box, and validation catches SSN, math, and wage-base errors before submission.

Download free employee PDF copies and distribute them yourself, or let us handle it. Print & Mail ($1.69/form) sends USPS first-class copies from our SOC 2 audited facility with HIPAA-aligned controls. E-Delivery ($0.19/form) emails encrypted PDFs — employees must consent to electronic delivery first.

You file a Form W-2c. Once the SSA accepts your original submission you can prepare a correction from the dashboard. File it as soon as you identify the error, since penalties scale with how late the accurate form is filed.

These are the amounts for returns required to be filed in 2026. They are adjusted for inflation each year, so a 2027 filing will carry slightly higher figures. $60 per form if filed within 30 days late, $130 per form if filed after that but by August 1, and $340 per form if filed after August 1 or not at all. Intentional disregard raises the penalty to at least $680 per form with no maximum, and a separate penalty applies for failing to furnish the employee copy.

Deadline for Filing Form W-2 (Tax Year 2026)

Recipient copy February 1, 2027
Paper to IRS February 1, 2027
E-file to IRS February 1, 2027

Form W-2 is filed with the SSA rather than the IRS, on the same date either way.

Filing 10 or more information returns in aggregate means e-filing is required, so the e-file date is the one that applies to most filers.

Reviewed by Nazrul Huda, MSA, IRS PTIN Holder · last reviewed

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