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.^[1] 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 of any year in which an employment relationship existed and which was not contractually independent (see below). 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. 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 following employment the previous year. Relevant amounts on Form W-2 are reported by the Social Security Administration to the Internal Revenue Service. In US territories, the W-2 is issued with a two letter territory code, such as W-2GU for Guam. Corrections can be filed using Form W-2c.

The use of the form has led to the phrase "W-2 employees" to refer to those who receive Form W-2, in contrast to independent contractors and other "1099 workers" whose income is instead reported on Form 1099.^[2]