Filing Employee Wage Statements with the IRS

According to federal law, employers are required to file their employees’ wage statements, as well as independent contractor forms with the IRS every year. This year, the deadline is January 31, so if you are a small business owner and have questions about your tax-related responsibilities towards employees, you should consider consulting with an experienced Florida tax attorney who can help ensure that you comply with all state and federal tax laws and that you are not penalized for failing to file by the deadline.

Filing Process  

According to The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act, employers must file copies of their employees’ W-2s with the Social Security Administration by January 31, at which point they are also required to report any payments made to independent contractors by submitting a 1099 form to the IRS. One of the best ways to ensure that these forms are filed correctly and on time is to verify all employees’ information, including their full name, address, Social Security Number, and individual taxpayer identification number. It’s also a good idea to make sure that the company’s account information with the Social Security Administration is active and current.

Who Needs to File? 

Every year, employers must report the wages and taxes of their employees for the previous year by submitting their W-2 forms. However, they are only required to file W-2s for wages paid to employees who:

• Had income, Medicare, or Social Security taxes withheld; or
• Would have had income taxes withheld if they had claimed only a single withholding allowance or had not claimed a withholding exemption.

Submitting these forms can be difficult, so if you want to ensure that you file the appropriate documentation for each eligible employee, please contact our legal team for assistance.

Deadline Extensions  

Extensions for filing W-2s are no longer automatically granted. Instead, an employer must prove that an extension is necessary for one of the following reasons:

• A fire, death, or natural disaster has affected the business’s operation;
• The business is located in a Presidentially Declared Disaster Area and suffered a catastrophic event that made it impossible for the company to resume operations or has made necessary records unavailable;
• The individual responsible for filing the documents has suffered a serious illness, passed away, or been unavoidably absent, which has affected the business’s ability to operate; or
• The business is in its first year of establishment.

Approved extensions give employers an extra 30 days to submit the necessary paperwork. Those who fail to comply with these deadlines or who do not request them at all risk being penalized by the IRS.

Call Today for Help with Filing Your Taxes  

Tax season can be stressful, especially for business owners who must comply with additional tax requirements, including submitting wage statements. If you own a business and have not yet submitted wage statements for your employees or need to file an extension, please call 386-490-9949 to schedule a one-on-one confidential meeting with experienced Florida tax attorney Ronald Cutler, P.A.

Resource:

irs.gov/newsroom/reminder-to-employers-and-other-businesses-jan-31-filing-deadline-now-applies-to-all-wage-statements-and-independent-contractor-forms