Form W-3 is a document used to transmit Copy A of Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, to the Social Security Administration (SSA).
You can find a fillable Form W-3 in our PDF Forms hub, where you can easily open it in our editor and customize it according to your needs. This way, you’re saving time and getting your form ready much more swiftly.
Form W-3 is known as the Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements, which is precisely what it is used for: filing Copy A of Forms W-2. This document is never submitted on its own, as it has no purpose outside of transmitting Forms W-2.
Employers filing Form W-2 should use Form W-3 to summarize and transmit their employees’ wage and tax statements, detailing the income received and taxes withheld.
Form W-3 is due on the same day as Copy A of Form W-2, that is, the 31st of January of the following year. However, if this date falls on a weekend or a national holiday, the deadline is pushed to the next business day.
Penalties for not filing Form W-3 are charged per associated Form W-2, since paper Forms W-2 aren’t processed without it, and depend on how late you file:
You should file Form W-3 with the Social Security Administration (SSA), either electronically or by sending it by mail. Use the official SSA platform for e-filing, or mail the official red-ink form to one of the designated addresses, as copies printed from the web can’t be scanned.
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You can get a blank Form W-3 from pdf.net; then, open the document in our editor and fill out the required information.
Yes, you can submit Form W-3 electronically, and it’s even required if you file 10 or more information returns. When you e-file your Forms W-2, Form W-3 is created for you automatically.
If your Form W-3 is missing information after you’ve filed it, you’ll need to correct it, as explained below. Avoid this by cross-checking your document with a Form W-3 example to make sure everything’s in place.
You can fill out your Form W-3 online, either by using pdf.net or the official SSA filing portal, Business Services Online.
This form is free to view and edit, but not to download; you’ll need to purchase a subscription plan if you want to save it to your device. Check out our pricing page for details.
You can correct mistakes on Form W-3 by submitting Form W-3c, the Transmittal of Corrected Wage and Tax Statements, along with the appropriate Forms W-2c.
The difference between Forms W-2 and W-3 is that the former is used to report payments and taxes withheld for each employee, while the latter is used simply to transmit Copy A of these forms to the SSA.