Fillable Form W3 (2016)

What is Form W-3?

Form W-3, officially the Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements, is an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax form that employers need to file each year to report the annual wages and tax withholdings ofemployees to the Social Security Administration. The W-3 form combines the numbers for all the employees in one place to show the total earnings for all W-2 forms.

This form is filed with copies of all of the W-2 forms. It will serve as a verification of the accuracy of your W-2 forms. Form W-3 also provides a formal summary of your quarterly tax payments for the year.

Unlike Form W-2 which requires 6 copies, there’s only one required copy of Form W-3, and it is submitted to the Social Security Administration. You must make and keep a copy of the form along with Copy D of Form W-2 for your records.

How to Fill Out Form W-3?

Form W-3 has a similar set-up with Form W-2.

To complete the form, you will need information about your business, such as Employer Identification Number (EIN), business name and address, mailing address, and information about the employee’s earnings. Make sure not to use the blank field reserved for official use and don't just fill out the form by making a photocopy of it.

Prepare your payroll records and Forms W-2 to cross-refer to ensure that all information you will input on Form W-3 is accurate. Your payroll records, such as your payroll register and year-to-date payroll information, show employees’ gross wages, taxes and deductions withheld, and net wages.

The lettered boxes require information about your company and how many W-2s the form aggregates.

Box A requires the control number.
Box B requires the identification under 'Kind of payer' and 'Kind of employer'.
Box C requires the number of W-2 forms you have filed.
Box D requires the establishment number.
Box E requires the 9-digit employer identification number (EIN) assigned to you by the IRS.
Box F requires the employer’s name.
Box G requires the employer’s address, including the ZIP code.
Box H requires other EIN used for the year (if there is any).

The numbered boxes require the combined income and tax information from all of the W-2s.
Box 1 reports the total annual taxable wages, tips, and other forms of conversation.
Box 2 reports the federal income tax withheld from the employees’ pay during the year.
Box 3 reports the total wages subject to the Social Security tax, excluding tips.
Box 4 reports the total amount of Social Security taxes withheld for the year.
Box 5 reports wages and tips subject to Medicare taxes, including tips. Also, enter tips that the employees reported even if you did not have enough employee funds to collect the Medicare tax for those tips.
Box 6 reports the amount of Medicare taxes withheld for the year.
Box 7 reports the total amount of reported tips subject to Social Security tax. Report all tips in box 1 along with wages and other compensation. Also, include any tips reported in box 7 in box 5.
Box 8 reports any tip income allocated by the employer to the employees. Do not include this amount in box 1, 3, 5, or 7.
Box 9 is no longer used.
Box 10 reports the total benefits provided to the employees under a dependent care assistance program.
Box 11 reports the total amount distributed to the employees from the nonqualified deferred compensation or a non-government pension plan. This is to determine if any part of the amount reported in box 1 or boxes 3 and/or 5 was earned in a prior year.
Box 12a requires the deferred compensation.
Box 12b is no longer used.
Box 13 reports the nonqualified deferred compensation for third-party sick pay use only.
Box 14 reports the amount of Income tax withheld by the payer of third-party sick pay correctly.
Box 15 includes the employer’s state and state tax identification number.
Box 16 reports the total taxable wages the employees earned in a specific state.
Box 17 reports the total amount of state income taxes withheld from the employees’ wages reported in box 16.
Box 18 reports wages and tips subject to local, city, or other state income taxes.
Box 19 reports the total taxes withheld from the employees’ wages for local, city, or other state income taxes.
After filling out all boxes, enter the personal details of the employer: contact person, telephone number, fax number, and email address. At the bottom of the page, the individual must provide signature and date to assure all the details are correct, true, and complete.

Submission

To give more time to find errors, give W-2 forms to employees earlier in January because the deadline for giving W-2 forms to employees and sending W-2 and W-3 forms to the Social Security Administration is the same date: January 31 of the year following the tax year.
If you don't think you'll be able to submit the W-2 and W-3 forms on time, you may request one 30-day extension by filing Form 8809 — Application for Extension of Time to File Information Returns. You must submit the application no later than the due date of the form.
If you are filing paper forms, you should mail the W-3 forms, as well as the W-2 forms for each employee, to :

Social Security Administration
Direct Operations Center
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18769-0001

If you are filing W-2 and W-3 electronically, you’ll have to register for the Social Security Administration’s business services online (BSO) platform.
Once registered, you have two options:

a. Use fill-in forms to create W-2s for each employee; or
b. Upload wage files from your payroll or tax software according to a given format.

BSO will generate a W-3 form for you once W-2 forms are submitted.
In case of any errors on the submitted W-3 form, you must file a W-2c and a W-3c form with the Social Security Administration. File Forms W-2c and W-3c as soon as possible after you discover an error.