Understanding Your W2 And Wage Statement

By Author: DANNY BREEDLOVE
Total Articles: 11
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The Form W2 is used to report the income you have earned in the entire year. It also reports the taxes you have been paying for the year from your wages, allowances as well as tips. The form will be prepared by your employer on your behalf but you will receive a copy yourself. Your employer will provide the form to Social Security and the IRS. The forms may seem complicated at first, but taking time to read - and task questions is the key to understanding your W2 and wage statement.

You should expect to receive a W-2 as well as a wage and tax statement from your employer. This is provided for in law. The information garnered from these documents will enable you to fill out your taxes when it is tax season. You will probably receive it my mail or hand delivery. Usually by around January 31st, the W-2 should be in your hands and you can start working on your taxes. If you don't have it by Valentine’s Day, you may want to make a request for it because there is obviously a problem. It may have gotten lost in the mail or forgotten. Get hold of the form early enough to spot any mistakes and correct them. For example if your ...
... Social Security number is not correctly written you can ask Human Resources to correct it. If your name has changed, you can also update your information to reflect the new name.

The format of the W-2 is not always the same. It can change depending on how your employer does payroll processing. The information contained in the W-2 is constant regardless of the format.

Here is some of the information contained in the W-2:

Your correct name and address
Your Social Security Number
Your zip code
Your telephone number
Your employers name and address
Your employers’ identification number
Your employers telephone number
A total estimate of your wages, tips and any other forms of compensation
A total of the taxes that were withheld from your wages
Your first and last date to work for tax purposes
An estimate of the total amount of wages that are subject to social security tax.
Report your wages up to 117,700/=
A total of your wages subject to Medicare tax
Income on tips
Benefits for dependent care. Anything under 15 5,000 is non-taxable.
Retirement Plans - This could be your 401k plan or any other retirement plan you and/or your employer are contributing to.

The forms are filled in multiple copies:
Copy B - A copy of your W-2 which is supposed to be attached to your Income Tax Return in case you are filing by snail mail. If filing by email, file it away with your tax documents for at least four years in case it is ever needed
Copy C - A copy of your W-2 that is supposed to remain with you. Hold on to it for your personal records.
Copy 2 - A copy of your W-2 that is supposed to be attached to your County tax returns.