For “Employers”, the most important thing to remember is that all employees 2012 W-2s must be mailed out by the end of January 2013! Our experience has been that most employers are familiar with the annual federal requirement for issuing current and past employees that received wages during the year. However we have seen that there are some employers that are not familiar with this form and the related process. If you fall into this category the following information might be useful to you. A W-2 is provided to employees by the employers to summarize their income for tax purposes. The W-2 provides the employee with detailed information regarding how much he or she earned and how much taxes were deducted from their wages over the course of the year (December 1st to January 31st). It is required by law that employers provide employees (current and past) with a yearend W-2 , and that the employer deliver or mail out all employee W-2s on or before January 31st of the following year (ex: all 2012 W-2s must be mailed out prior to February 1, 2013).A key fact sometimes overlooked by the employee is that the “Employee” must notify their current or past employer of any address changes that they have had in order to assure the prompt delivery of their 2012 W-2. The employer is not liable for any penalties related to late delivery of W-2s in the event that the employee failed to properly notify the employer of an address change.
If an employee does not receive their W-2 by the first week of February (2013), the IRS recommends that they contacting their employer directly. If an employee does not receive their 2012 W-2 by February 14, 2013 then they should call the IRS at 800-829-1040.
A major advantage of being with a Professional Employer Organization (PEO), is the W-2 issuance and related processes for companies and employees that are clients of a PEO are managed by the PEO. This is a tremendous administrative and regulatory relief for the employers as well as an assurance for the employees that their W-2 is being processes professionally. If your company is not a client of a PEO, you should contact your Accountant or Payroll processing firm for more information on how your yearend W-2s are being processed and disbursed to your workforce. For more information on how a PEO can address this and other employee administration needs of your company, please contact the LL Roberts Group (toll free) at 877.878.6463 or email us at the LL Roberts Group.
