Form W-2

Form W-2 (officially, the "Wage and Tax Statement") is an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax form used in the United States to report wages paid to employees and the taxes withheld from them. Employers must complete a Form W-2 for each employee to whom they pay a salary, wage, or other compensation as part of the employment relationship. An employer must mail out the Form W-2 to employees on or before January 31. This deadline gives these taxpayers about 2 months to prepare their returns before the April 15 income tax due date. The form is also used to report FICA taxes to the Social Security Administration. The Form W-2, along with Form W-3, generally must be filed by the employer with the Social Security Administration by the end of February. Relevant amounts on Form W-2 are reported by the Social Security Administration to the Internal Revenue Service. In territories, the W-2 is issued with a two letter code indicating which territory, such as W-2GU for Guam. If corrections are made, it can be done on a W-2c.

Form W-2 includes wage and salary information as well as federal, state, and other taxes that were withheld. This information is used by the employee when they complete their individual tax return using Form 1040.

An employer must mail out the Form W-2 to employees on or before January 31. This deadline gives these taxpayers about 2 months to prepare their returns before the April 15 income tax due date.

When an employee prepares their individual tax return for a tax year, the withholding amount from Form W-2 is subtracted from the tax due. It is possible to receive a refund from the IRS if more income was withheld than necessary.

Since the IRS receives a copy of the W-2 from the employer, if the amount reported on the W-2 does not match the amount reported on Form 1040, the IRS may get suspicious. In addition, if an individual does not pay the required amount of taxes, the IRS will also know this. In this way, the IRS uses Form W-2 as a way to track an employee's tax liability, and the form has come to be seen as a formal proof of income. The Social Security Administration, court proceedings, and applications for federal financial aid for college may all use Form W-2 as proof of income.

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