What is a W-2 Form?

A W-2 form is a piece of paper (or digital copy) that your employer gives you every year. It shows how much money you made and how much tax they took out of your pay for the entire year (Jan 1 - Dec 31).

What information is on your W-2 Form?

Your W-2 form has important details, like:

How much you earned in the previous calendar year.
How much tax was withheld from your pay.
Any retirement or benefit contributions.
Special stuff, like stock options or dependent care benefits.

Please see the below breakdown of each box of the W2 and the information it relays:

Box A	Your social security number
Box B	Your employer's identification number (EIN)
Box C	Your employer's name, address, and zip code
Box D	Control number (an optional code that your employer can add to this section to identify your individual form–it's normal for this to be left blank.)
Box E	Your legal name
Box F	Your address and zip code

Box 1	Your total taxable wages, including reported tips and other taxable compensation paid to you during the last calendar year by your employer. This box will not include any deductions you had taken pretax, such as for certain retirement plan benefits.
Box 2	The amount of federal income tax your employer withheld from your wages over the last calendar year.
Box 3	The amount of your pay that was subject to Social Security tax in the last calendar year.
Box 4	The amount of Social Security tax your employer withheld from your wages in the past calendar year.
Box 5	The total amount of your pay that was subject to Medicare tax in the last calendar year.
Box 6	The amount of Medicare tax your employer withheld from your wages in the past calendar year.
Box 7	Any reported tips from the past calendar year. This will be blank if you don't receive tips, or if you are expected to report your tips as part of filing your individual annual taxes.
Box 8	Any pooled tips that are allocated to you. This only applies to employees of large food & beverage operations.
Box 9	An optional verification code if your employer is participating in an IRS pilot program
Box 10	The amount of dependent care benefits if applicable. This includes any pretax dollars allotted by you or your employer, to a flexible spending account for dependent care.
Box 11	The amount your employer paid you from a nonqualified deferred compensation plan.
Box 12	Box 12 is considered the "catch-all" for codes that your employer uses to report wages to the IRS. Some common W-2 Box 12 codes are: C — Taxable costs of group-term life insurance over $50,000 (included in W-2 boxes 1,3 (up to Social Security wages base), and box 5. D - Elective deferrals under a section 401(k) cash or deferred arrangement plan (including a SIMPLE 401(k) arrangement) V — Income from exercise of non-statutory stock option(s) (included in Boxes 1, 3 (up to Social Security wage base), and 5). W — Employer contributions (including amounts the employee elected to contribute using a Section 125 cafeteria plan) to your health savings account (HSA). AA — Designated Roth contribution under a 401(k) plan. DD — Cost of employer-sponsored health coverage. For a full definitive list of Box 12 codes please click here.
Box 13	You may see a checkbox ticked for each of the following: Statutory employee status: Your earnings are subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes, but not subject to federal income tax withholding. Retirement plan: You were an active participant in a retirement plan such as a 401(k) in the past tax year. Third-party sick pay: You received sick pay under a third-party insurance provider.
Box 14	Your employer will use this to report anything that doesn't fit in other box criteria, such as nontaxable income, union dues, uniform payments, and health insurance premiums.
Boxes 15-20	The amount of state & local income tax reported by your employer in the past calendar year.

FAQs

1. When will you get your W-2 Form?

Your employer must send you the W-2 form by January 31st of the following year. If this date falls on a weekend or holiday, you'll get it on the next business day. For example, your 2023 W2 would be provided by 1/31/24.

2. How to make sure you get your W-2 Form?

To make sure you get your W-2 form on time:

Keep your employer updated on your address.
Double-check that they have the right address.
Check your email, as some employers send W-2 forms electronically.

3. What to do if you don't get your W-2 Form?

If you don't get your W-2 form:

Check with your employer: Ask your employer about your W-2 form.
Get an Extension: If you need more time to file your taxes, ask the IRS for an extension. Try to estimate your income and taxes.
Use Form 4852: As a last resort, you can use IRS Form 4852 to estimate your income and taxes if you can't get your W-2 form.

4. Why do my taxable wages for federal income tax (Box 1) not match my YTD gross earnings from my last paystub of the year?

Some pretax deductions reduce taxable income and reduce your federal wages (Box 1 amount). Examples of pretax deductions that reduce federal wages include:

401(k) Traditional
Pre-tax medical, dental, vision
HSA
FSA
Dependent Care FSA

5. I only worked in New York State for a portion of the year, why are the state wages on my W2 higher than expected?

New York is special when it comes to W-2 reporting. Based on this resource, the state requires all taxable income, regardless of the state it's earned in, to be reported as New York taxable income.

This means that the amount you see in box 16 for NYS wages on your W-2 will always match Box 1 (total taxable wages) regardless of how much you may have also earned in another state. If you worked in multiple states, you will have an additional box for the income you earned in the other state.

6. What to do if your W2 is wrong or shows incorrect information?

If you believe that any of your personal or wage information on your W2 is inaccurate, please reach out to your employer so that they can contact us in support and request a W2C be generated.

Updates that require a W2C to be generated are SSN, legal name, tax and wage data.

Please note that if the home address on your W2 is wrong or outdated, you are encouraged to update this information with your employer directly. However, a corrected W2 is not required for a change of address and will not be generated.

If a W2C is issued to you, you will notice that many of the boxes are blank. This is because the W2C only reflects the changes made. When filing your individual taxes, you will need to pair your original W2 with your W2C.

Overview of your W2