if i own a small business and i have employees how do i make their w-2 forms at the end of the year?

Answer 1

Most accounting programs will print them for you. Under year end processing you will pull the information before clearing payroll for the year. You will need to order blank forms, envelopes and a W-3.
Ask your software support people for information or send the whole thing to the CPA firm or whoever does the payroll.

Answer 2

I guess this is a good news bad news type of situation.

The good news is that a W-2 is easy to file...simply fill in the data in the correct blocks (i.e. name, wages...etc). Then file a W-3 that totals the amounts reported on all of the W-2's that you issued.

Now the bad news. If they are actual W-2 employees you should have been filing quarterly tax forms (941's) and making payments during the year. If you haven't been doing this then you have a small problem...there will be penalties and interest due.

Now, more bad news...that is just the federal law. You also have state laws to deal with...and it is the same problem there too.

Oh, did I mention that you are supposed to be paying employment tax (unemployment insurance) on the employees. There are two types...federal and state (Futa and Suta). And, you will have to file a federal form 940 (Futa) at the end of the year.

This is all assuming that your employees are W-2 employees...and not contractors. If you are withholding federal taxes from their paychecks they are employees. If you are just paying a certain amount for the work they do it might be a different story. You might just need to issue 1099's instead of W-2's.

I can't answer that question...there is a lot involved if they qualify for this treatment.

I would suggest that you consult a local professional.

Trust me...it would be well worth the cost. I assure it will be less than making mistakes and facing penalties and interest too.

Answer 3

You have to keep an accurate record of each employee's pay, including the amounts you withhold for income taxes, social security and medicare taxes, and any other obligatory withholding. You have to make sure that you stop withholding social security taxes when the employer reaches the maximum limit of the tax. At the end of the year you report each employee's total earnings, including any bonuses, and the amounts withheld for the year. The total of the W2 forms is reported on a summary form provided by the IRS.

Payroll recording and reporting is a complicated process best left to experts. You accountant should be able to help you. Or you should buy good accounting software that keeps track of the payroll. Programs such as DacEasy or Peachtree are good, but you have to be trained to use them. Again it is best to leave it to your accountant.

Answer 4

You can get free blank forms from the IRS if you want to have someone type them. If you don't have too many, this might be the way to go.
I used a software that can be bought at Staples or Office Max but the name of it escapes me. It was about $30 and all you had to do was enter the information and it would print the forms.

Answer 5

IRS has a book on it.or turn your paper work over to accountat and have him do it for you.