NEWS FROM SOCIAL SECURITY:

NEWS FROM SOCIAL SECURITY:

/ 7 December 2022 / 0 Comments
NEWS FROM SOCIAL SECURITY:

Each year, employers must send Copy A of Forms W-2 (Wage and Tax Statement) to Social Security to report the wages and taxes of your employees for the previous calendar year. In addition, a Form W-2 must be given to each employee. Forms W-2 are sent to Social Security along with a Form W-3 (Transmittal of Income and Tax Statements). Employers are required to file a Form W-2 for wages paid to each employee from whom:

  • Income, Social Security, or Medicare taxes were withheld, or
  • Income tax would have been withheld if the employee had claimed no more than one withholding allowance or had not claimed exemption from withholding on a Form W-4, (Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate).

Filing W-2s online using Business Services online is free, fast, and secure! As a CPA, Accountant, Enrolled Agent, or other third party, you can electronically file W-2s on behalf of your clients. Plus, your clients will not have to sign a W-3, and they won’t have to mail Copy A of the paper W-2s.

You will need to register for a User ID and Password. You will not need to register for a separate User ID and Password for each of your clients. You only have to register once!

Extra Security

We have added an extra layer of security to Business Services Online (BSO).

  • If you are a new user or you need to add wage reporting to your existing account, we will mail an activation code.
  • The activation code is sent via the United States Postal Service (USPS) to the employer’s address registered with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Your employer will usually receive it within two (2) weeks.
  • Your employer should give you the instructions and activation code as soon as received. You will need this information to complete your account registration or the change to your existing account.

We recommend registering for BSO before the 2022 W-2 reporting season.

BSO includes the following services:

  • Reporting wages to us using W2/W3 Online or W2c/W3c Online or Wage File Upload.
  • View name and Social Security number (SSN) mismatch.
  • Social Security Number Verification Service.

Passwords

We recommend that you verify your BSO password now, before the W-2 reporting season. If you forget your password it can take up to 10 business days before you receive a new password in the mail. This will ensure you are ready before submitting W-2s.

Registering Without an Employer Identification Number (EIN)

  • Currently, we are unable to mail an activation code to new users registering without an EIN. This includes Self-Employed and Household employers. Therefore, you are unable to file electronically.
  • If you do not have an EIN, you will need to mail paper W-2/W-3 and W-2c/W-3c to our Wilkes-Barre Direct Operations Center. Visit the Paper Forms W-2 & Instructions page for address information.

Electronic Filing Options (EFW2)

  • Wage File Upload, available through BSO, processes your file and provides results in ;real-time. You will receive a receipt right away letting you know if it is successful or if there are errors. For more information about Wage File Upload, go to What's New for 2023or view the video.
  • W2 Online- Create, save, print, and submit up to 50 Forms W-2 for Tax Years 2022, 2021, 2020, or 2019.
  • Electronic Wage Reporting Web Service (ERWS) Developers of payroll and tax reporting software, as well as payroll service providers, can use this to create a web service client to electronically file wage reports.

For smaller businesses, we also have a FREE W-2 Online service

Truncated SSNs

  • You may shorten the SSN on W-2s, except on Copy A.
  • We will not accept shortened SSNs (XXX-XX-1234) on Copy A of Form W-2 or in the SSN field in EFW2. You must show all nine digits for proper processing.

IRS instructions on Truncated Taxpayer Identification Numbers

Verify SSNs

If you need information about whether your employee's reported name and SSN match our records, please visit our Verify SSNs page.

Go to our Employer W-2 Filing Instructions & Information page for videos, tutorials, and other useful information and links.

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