California W-2 Form

Here’s exciting news.

California W-2 forms can now be provided electronically. Isn’t that great? One benefit to this is that employers can save money. With no postage, and no printing, money can truly be saved. Another benefit to having this flexibility is the speed. All W-2 forms for last year must be provided to employees by January 31^st. Registered mail takes at least a couple days, but email and posting information online is instantaneous. This is a life saver for an employer who may be running behind schedule.

Employers are now able to send out the California W-2 forms electronically. That is good news, especially for smaller businesses that handle payroll and tax documentation in house. Printing out W-2 forms for each employee can be a significant cost for some businesses. Companies that take over payroll responsibilities can especially benefit for this allowance. Although this may alleviate some cost by saving paper and postage, it won’t eliminate it completely. All employees are entitled to hard copies of their form, if they don’t feel comfortable receiving it online. To insure that an employee is comfortable with having their form emailed, they must sign a consent form.

By January 31, the previous year’s W-2 should be in the hands of all employees. With the ability to either send a PDF form or post W-2s on a secure website, this deadline should be easy to reach for most. The IRS wants any employee who does not receive their W-2 form by February 15^th to contact them and fill them in on their employer’s information. They are serious about making sure the forms are distributed on time.

Filing W-2s online will improve some problems, but bring along some new ones. For instance, most undelivered W-2s occur due to the relocation of the employee. They may have forgotten to give their new address to the employer. Sometimes the employee’s new address might be entered on some paperwork, but not changed in the payroll system. Electronic access completely gets rid of the problem of outdated employee addresses.