It’s almost tax time again so that means if you’re an employee, it’s a good time to go looking for your Hawaii W-2 form. We all know to file our income tax returns on time, but some of us might not be aware that there is also a deadline for the time we are to receive our W-2 wage statement from our employer.
If you’re an employer, all of your W-2 forms should be distributed by now. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires every employer to distribute Hawaii W-2 forms to each employee no later than January 31 of the following year.
In the case of this year, the W-2 proving 2006 earnings must be distributed no later than January 31, 2007. Most employers have no problems meeting this deadline but others just can’t bring themselves to doing all that paperwork. After all, most business owners start their business because they enjoy the business, not the paperwork. Fortunately, there are many popular payroll-processing firms available to the employer today. These firms will automatically generate and distribute W-2 forms in timely fashion, even in PDF format via email if the employee consents to this method.
When an employee doesn’t receive a W-2, there are now two IRS forms that must accompany the tax return. Form 4598 and Form 4852 must be submitted with the employee’s tax return so the IRS can track which employer did not supply the W-2 and why. The IRS uses these forms to crack down on employers who aren’t distributing this information in a timely manner.
Of course, the problem doesn’t always lie with the employer. Many W-2s go astray when an employee moves and fails to notify his employer of his new address. Each time an employee moves, he is required to complete a new W-4 so the employer always has current information.
