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 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.

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