W-2 Filing Support

Fix: Begin at the BSO Welcome page and sign in with Login.gov or ID.me as instructed by SSA. Existing BSO access is associated with the authenticated credential; do not create duplicate accounts unless SSA directs you to.

Fix: Confirm the user requested access to the employer services needed and completed any activation-code step. SSA recommends allowing registration time well before the January filing deadline.

Fix: Validate every record against the current EFW2 specification. Check RA, RE, RW, RS, RT, RU and RF records as applicable, including exact fixed-width positions. Do not insert or delete spaces by eye in a production file.

Fix: For the applicable tax year, populate the employer name, delivery address, contact name and contact phone fields required by the EFW2 employer record. Build these fields from one verified employer master record.

Fix: Compare payroll records to the employee's Social Security card/current records. Use SSNVS when appropriate. Correct obvious typos, then ask the employee to resolve unresolved SSA-record differences. A mismatch alone is not evidence of immigration status or a basis for adverse action.

Fix: Send all nine digits to SSA. SSA allows truncation in some employee-copy situations, but not in the Copy A/EFW2 SSN field used for wage reporting.

Fix: Reconcile payroll register totals to the RW employee records and RT/RU summary records. Review wage-base limits, Additional Medicare Tax handling, third-party sick pay, deferred compensation and any negative adjustments.

Fix: Treat AccuWage errors as a file-generation problem. Correct the source mapping/template, regenerate the full EFW2 file and rerun AccuWage. Do not patch individual fixed-width lines unless you can guarantee all record positions remain correct.

Fix: SSA permits compressed uploads, but the zip should contain one wage file. Confirm the original EFW2/EFW2C file is valid before zipping and that the compressed file is within current BSO size limits.

Fix: Save the confirmation/Wage File Identifier and monitor View Submission Status. An upload receipt confirms receipt of the file, not necessarily final acceptance. Do not duplicate the report while status is still pending.

Fix: Follow the resubmission notice and preserve the Wage File Identifier. Resubmission files should use the same EFW2/EFW2C format as the original. Correct the rejection cause, retest and submit as a resubmission when instructed.

Fix: Use W-2c/W-3c or EFW2C for accepted wage data that needs correction. Do not submit another original W-2 for the same employee/year as a substitute for the correction process.

Fix: EIN correction is a special case. The SSA Electronic W-2 Filing Handbook describes the EFW2C approach for backing out the incorrect EIN and reporting the correct EIN. Follow the current handbook rather than treating it like an ordinary employee-field correction.

Fix: Check SSA's current Employer W-2 page. As of October 2026, SSA says the new W-2/W-2c Online application supports U.S. domestic wage reporting and territory support is expected in early December 2026.

No. Forms W-2 are filed electronically with the Social Security Administration. IRIS is an IRS information-return system for other forms.

EFW2 is SSA's electronic wage-file format for original W-2 wage reports. EFW2C is the electronic correction format for W-2c data. Use the tax-year-specific SSA specification.

Yes. SSA provides AccuWage Online to test formatted EFW2/EFW2C wage files and identify errors that could cause a submission to be returned.

No. SSA limits SSNVS to current or former employees for wage-reporting purposes. It is not a contractor TIN matching tool or general hiring screen.

First compare the submission to your payroll records, then ask the employee to compare the information to the Social Security card. If the records still match but SSA does not, the employee should contact SSA. Document your attempts to resolve the issue.

No. Save the confirmation, then monitor final processing status and error notices. An upload receipt is not the same as final successful processing.

Use W-2c/EFW2C when previously accepted wage data needs correction. If the original report was rejected and never accepted, fix and resubmit the original as directed by SSA.

Use SSA's “Specifications for Filing Forms W-2 and W-2c” page and select the publication for the tax year you are filing. Do not reuse a prior-year layout without checking changes.