W-2, W-3 and 1099-MISC Forms Filing Deadline January 31

Before the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act, employers generally had a longer period of time to file these forms. But the 2015 law made a permanent requirement for employers to file their copies of Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, and Form W-3, Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements, with the Social Security Administration by January 31.

Certain Forms 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Income, filed with the IRS to report non-employee compensation to independent contractors are also due at this time. Such payments are reported in box 7 of this form.

The early filing date means that the IRS can more easily detect refund fraud by verifying income that individuals report on their tax returns.

Automatic extensions of time to file Forms W-2 are not available. The IRS will only grant extensions for very specific reasons. Details can be found on the instructions for Form 8809, Application for Time to File Information Returns.

The IRS has announced that starting in 2020 (for the 2021 filing season) there is a new Form 1099-NEC which will replace the use of Form 1099-MISC, Box 7 for payments to independent contractors in the amount of $600 or more. Note that the form to be filed with the IRS is the red form still used by the 1099-MISC so keep that in mind when considering your forms order with your software vendor for the 2020 reporting of payments.