Online Services, Taxes

Own a Small Business? File Your W-2s Online

November 21, 2016 • By

Reading Time: 2 Minutes

Last Updated: November 21, 2016

two women on laptop If you’re a small business owner, you know you have to file your Form W‑2 information with Social Security every year. You might not have realized you can save time and avoid errors by filing online.

The filing deadline for tax year 2016 is January 31, 2017. Getting started is easy.  Just register for Business Services Online. It’s free, fast, and secure! Simple fill-in pages guide you through each step of entering your W‑2 information for each employee, and providing it to Social Security. The website automatically totals your entries and creates Form W‑3, Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements. The site also includes fill-in pages for filing Forms W‑2c, Corrected Wage and Tax Statement.

File up to 50 W‑2s with each online wage report. You can even produce W‑2s for your employees that satisfy state and local tax laws. There’s no reason to hurry when completing the online forms because you can save your reports while they’re in progress. If the website detects a questionable entry, it alerts you on the spot. This can save you time on correcting mistakes down the road. It also helps your employees by reducing errors that could affect their future Social Security benefits.

Larger businesses may prefer to take advantage of our file upload service. Instead of entering your W‑2 or W‑2c information online, this Business Services Online feature lets you upload a file containing formatted wage data. Visit our Employer W‑2 Filing page for file specifications and software you can use to check your data format. Businesses that need to file 250 or more W‑2s may not use paper forms unless the Internal Revenue Service grants them a waiver.

While you’re registering for Business Services Online, consider signing up for the Social Security Number Verification Service. Use this feature to verify employee names and Social Security numbers for wage reporting. Verify up to 10 names and numbers at a time and receive immediate results. For larger quantities, you can upload a formatted data file. We’ll usually have your results the next business day.

Social Security is with the public through life’s journey. This includes joining hands with employers to secure today and tomorrow.

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About the Author

Doug Walker, Deputy Commissioner, Communications

Deputy Commissioner, Office of Communications

Comments

  1. Marsha K.

    Great article. Thanks for letting me know about the online service. I did not realize that I could do up to 50 employee W2 online. Also I love the fact that it saves the info so I can come back and finish it later. So often I start working on it and then someone comes into the store and I have to stop it and come back again later.

    • Ray F.

      Thank you for sharing Marsha! We appreciate your thoughts, and your support.

  2. Andriyanto

    Apakah sebuah Instansi juga boleh mengikuti program ini?

  3. Annette

    IF A PERSON IS RECIEVING SSDI BENEFITS MONTHLY CAN HE/SHE FILE FOR TAXES?

    • Ray F.

      Thank you for your question Anette. Some people who get Social Security must pay federal income taxes on their benefits. This usually happens only if you have other substantial income in addition to your benefits. See Benefits Planner: Income Taxes and Your Social Security Benefits for more information.

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  5. VaLonna W.

    On 1/3/17 our Quick Books program inadvertently e-file submitted w2/w3, but my system shows no verification of the transaction. How can I find out if the SSA has received them?

  6. Gilma H.

  7. Tony S.

    Owner, Manager, Accountant or Tax Attorney?

    I browsed the SS business link and find the use of the solicitation of the term “attorney and non-attorney representative” to infringe. The Social Security Act needs to be amended to share back benefits with social worker and non-social worker representatives under Sec. 206 of the Social Security Act 42USC§406. Social security attorneys are invariably sociopathic killers because they are unprofessional, their mind is not representative of social work or law and they are plagiarists to give them full-fledged mens rhea, and that’s just the disability lawyers. Filing W-2 information to SSA for small business is not the work of attorneys in general. Filling W-2’s is the work of owners, managers, accountants and tax attorneys. The SS Business page should be edited to replace the phrase attorney and non-attorney representative to respect ‘owners, managers, accountants and tax attorneys’. I think that covers the gamut of filers and we don’t want to continue our this and non-this debate in Courts of the Social Security Amendments of January 1, 2016 http://www.title24uscode.org/ss1.htm

  8. Harley S.

    My question is, can 2015 W-2’s be done electronically?

    • ata

      No, this is new for 2016. You must register now for the w-2’s due ending the end of January 2017. There was no registration for electronic filing for prior years.

  9. N S.

    Business Services Online works great for filing W-2s. Our firm has used it for many, many years.

    • Ann C.

      Thanks for your feedback! Your thoughts are important to us and we’re pleased when feedback is positive. We try hard to provide the best possible service to our customers and your satisfaction is our reward.

  10. Beth B.

    Can a Township Municipality use this service. We have less than 25 W-2’s per year

    • ata

      Are you subject to FICA?

    • Ann C.

      Thank you for your question, Beth. Business Services Online offer three options to file W-2s electronically. You can complete up to 25 Forms W-2c on your computer, electronically submit them to Social Security and print copies for distribution to your employees. See Before You File-First Time Filers for more information.

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