SSA making improvements to W-2 Online: On September 30, the Social Security Administration (SSA) presented its annual Wage Reporting Payroll Forum on W-2 processing and other wage-reporting issues. Tyrone Benefield, Employer Services Liaison Officer, served as the forum’s moderator. Benefield told attendees about the following changes that are being made to W-2 Online, which is a free electronic filing option the SSA offers that allows employers to prepare and submit W-2s over a secure website.
·         Employers may now submit up to 50 W-2 forms to the SSA through W-2 Online (previously up to 20 W-2 forms).
·         Beginning with the 2011 tax year, employers may submit both current year and prior year W-2 forms electronically. Previously, only the current year could be submitted electronically. Employers had expressed the desire to file previous year W-2 forms electronically. The SSA hopes in the future to be able to allow employers to submit W-2 forms for up to three previous tax years using W-2 Online.
·         Beginning with the 2012 tax year, employee data submitted from the previous tax year will be accessible through W-2 Online. Employers had stated that the input of the same employee information each year was burdensome and had asked the SSA to make the information keyed from the previous year available in the following year.
·         W-2 Online may now be used by employers in American Samoa, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. The SSA is working on making W-2 Online available to employers in Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands.
There is now a ten-minute video on the SSA website that provides guidance on how to use W-2 Online can be found at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/employer/.

Friday, October 7th, 2011