Why do i need to fill the W-2 form?

Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, is used in the United States income tax system as an information return to report wages paid to employees and the taxes withheld from them. The form is also used to report FICA taxes to the Social Security Administration. Relevant amounts on Form W-2 are reported by the Social Security Administration to the Internal Revenue Service.

Employers must complete a Form W-2 for each employee to whom they pay a salary, wage, or other compensation as part of the employment relationship. The Form W-2 reports income on a calendar year (January 1 through December 31) basis, regardless of the fiscal year used by the employer or employee for other Federal tax purposes. However, this refers to the time period in which an employee has been compensated, not necessarily the actual dates of employment. After the final payroll in December, employment is normally compensated and subject to tax in the following year.

If an employee works in more than one state, most employers will print multiple, mostly redundant W-2 sheets to report the pay divided out to each state it was earned in. Some employers will print multiple rows of states on each and all of the W-2 copies. Other employers, when confronted with an employee that lives in one state and works in another, print a W-2 that attributes the whole gross wages twice, once for each state. This form of statement, entered as is, causes many tax programs to tax the income twice on a state return.

The form consists of six copies:

* Copy A - Submitted by the employer to the Social Security Administration. (In addition, the employer must also submit Form W-3, which is a summary of all Forms W-2 completed, along with all Copies A submitted. The Form W-3 must be signed by the employer.)
* Copy B - To be sent to the employee and filed by the employee with the employee's federal income tax returns.
* Copy C - To be sent to the employee, to be retained by the employee for the employee's records.
* Copy D - To be retained by the employer, for the employer's records.
* Copy 1 - To be filed with the employee's state or local income tax returns (if any).
* Copy 2 - To be filed with the employee's state or local income tax returns (if any).

Employers are instructed to send copies B, C, 1, and 2 to their employees generally by January 31 of the year immediately following the year of income to which the Form W-2 relates, which gives these taxpayers about 2 1/2 months before the April 15 income tax due date. The Form W-2, with Form W-3, generally must be filed by the employer with the Social Security Administration by the end of February.