The IRS W-2 forms are used by an employer to report the annual wages of employees and the amount of taxes withheld from their paychecks. It is a wage and tax statement form that employers send to their employees near the beginning of a new tax year. Employers need to mail this tax form by January 31, discounting any special extensions, so that employees have sufficient time to file their taxes before the April 15 deadline.

Your employer sends a copy of your W-2 form to the IRS when they send it to you. It is imperative that you enter all needed information correctly when filling your taxes. You will be audited by the IRS in case the return provided by you does not correspond to the details received by the IRS from your employer.

Constituents of the IRS W-2 Form

The W-2 form contains 29 boxes, six boxes of which are marked with letters and twenty boxes marked with numbers. You only need to fill in the relevant boxes. The fields to gather the information about you, your employer and taxes withheld are:

a. Social security number of employee

b. Employer’s identification number (EIN)

c. Name, address and zip code of the employer

d. Employee’s social security number

e. Employee’s name

f. Employee’s address and zip code

1. Employee’s taxable wages, tips, other compensations and taxable fringe benefits

2. Total amount of federal income tax withheld

3. Total wages subject to social security tax

4. Total amount of social security tax withheld from your wages

5. Total amount of wages and tips subject to Medicare tax

6. Total amount of Medicare tax withheld

7. Total amount of reported tips

8. Total amount of allocated tips

9. Advance earned income payment

10. Total in dependent care benefits

11. Nonqualified plans

12. 12(a., b., c., and d.). - Deferrals

13. Check boxes to indicate a statutory employee, retirement plan, third-party sick pay

14. Records for employee’s other information

15. Employer’s state and I.D. number

16. State wages, tips and compensation

17. Total state income tax paid

18. Locality name

19. Local wages, tips and compensation

20. Total local income tax paid