Fillable Form W-3 (2020)

What is Form W-3?

• Form W-3 is a summary for all business’ employee wages and contributions for the previous year.
• Form W-3 shows the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) the total amount the employer paid to their employees, as well as the federal income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes withheld from the employees.
• Form W-3 accompanies Form W-2 and summarizes its information.

Who should file Form W-3?

• Employers are responsible for the accomplishment of Form W-3.
• In turn, employees are required to accomplish Form W-2.

Why should Employers file Form W-3?

• The purpose of Form W-3 is to summarize and transmit an employer’s W-2 forms.
• Form W-3 tracks the wages, salary, commission, tips, and other compensation employers pay throughout the year.

How to fill out Form W-3?

The process of filling out Form W-3 is straightforward and has a similar format as Form W-2. Before filling out Form W-3 though, take note of the following necessary information and items beforehand:

1. Your Employer Identification Number (EIN)
2. The total amount paid in tips and other compensation for the year
3. The total amount of federal, state, and local taxes withheld for the year
4. The total amount of Social Security and Medicare taxes withheld for the year
5. The total amount of deductions for dependent care assistance programs for the year
6. Other compensations and benefits totals including elective deferrals for retirement plans and the cost of employer-sponsored health coverage for the year
7. Mailing Address
8. Form W-2

Boxes a-h asks for employer information. Fill these boxes out accurately.

a. Control Number
b. Kind of Payer/Kind of Employer/Third-party sick payer (if applicable)
c. Total number of Forms W-2
d. Establishment Number
e. EIN
f. Employer’s name
g. Employee’s address and ZIP Code
h. Other EIN used this year

After, there will be numbered items from 1 to 19 which you will need to fill out as well. These items ask about the total wage and tax information for all employees.

For Boxes 1-8, enter the information of your employees’ in the corresponding boxes from Form(s) W-2.

1. Wages, tips, and other compensations
2. Federal income tax withheld
3. Social Security wages
4. Social Security tax withheld
5. Medicare wages and tips
6. Medicare tax withheld
7. Social Security Tips
8. Allocated tips

For Box 10, enter your dependent care benefits the same as the total written in Box 10 of your Form W-2.
For Box 11, enter your nonqualified plans the same as the total written in Box 11 of your Form W-2.
For Box 12a, enter the total amounts of your deferred compensation using codes D through H, S, Y, AA, BB, and EE in Box 12 of your Form W-2.
Box 13 is to be left blank if there are no third-party sick payers.
Box 14 is only to be filled if employees had their federal income tax withheld from third-party sick pay.
For Box 15, enter your State ID.
For Boxes 16 to 19, report the state and local wages written down on the W-2 Form(s) submitted.

It is recommended that a copy of the Forms(s) be made and kept with Copy D (“For Employer) of Form(s) W-2 for about 4 years.

When should Forms W-2 and W-3 be submitted?

Form W-2 and Form W-3 should be filed by February 1, 2021. The deadline is for both paper and electronic filing.

Where should Forms W-2 and W-3 be submitted?

• For paper forms:

File paper forms to Social Security Administration, Direct Operations Center, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18769-0001.

• For e-filing:

The SSA provides two free e-filing options on its Business Services Online (BSO) website.

1. W-2 Online - use fill-in forms to create, save, print, and submit up to 50 Forms W-2 at a time to the SSA.
2. File Upload - Upload wage files to the SSA you have created using payroll or tax software that formats the files according to the SSA’s Specifications for Filing Forms W-2 Electronically (EFW2).

While Form W-2’s copies go out to your employees, the SSA, and other applicable tax agencies, Form W-3 only has one copy and goes to the SSA only.

Additional Notes:

1. Form W-2 and Form W-3 have separate instructions (see 2020 General Instructions for Form W-2 and Form W-3 for information on completing this form).
2. Do not file Form W-3 or Form(s) W-2 that were submitted electronically to the SSA.
3. Do not file Form W-3 alone.
4. All paper forms must comply with the IRS standards
5. Photocopies are not allowed
6. Make sure all information written on Form W-2 and Form W-3 are correct
7. IRS Form W-3 provides a compiled list of employee information included in all the forms of Form W-2.
8. The W-3 is not a standalone form - only file it with copies of all your W-2 form(s).