W-2 & W-3 tips for U.S. employers

We’ve created a handy guide to filing your W-2 and W-3 forms, to help you file on time, and successfully.

Each American small business owner is required to distribute W-2 forms for the previous year (2013) to their employees by January 31st. Every employer who pays an employee for services needs to file a Form W-2, for each employee if income, social security, or Medicare tax was withheld. If you are required to fill out a W-2, that means you must file a W-3.

For more information, check out the IRS instructions on filing your W-2 and W-3 forms.

Just a reminder that at this time, we do not file your W-2 and W-3 forms on your behalf, but we do make it easy for you to do it yourself!

W-2 and W-3 forms in payroll

Downloading W-2 forms from Wave is easy. Here is a quick tutorial to ensure you make all of your deadlines. Simply select the Taxes tab and select W2 & W3 Filing:

From there you will be able to see W2 slips for each of your employees. Please take a look through these forms to ensure you are not missing any fields. Then, scroll to the bottom and select the green Generate W2/W3 button.

From here you will need to:

1. Print and distribute W2 slips to your employees before January 31st.

As well as:

2. File your W-3 form before the February 28th deadline. For more information on filing, check out this handy IRS guide (I recommend zooming in!).