W-2 Supplies

[geekgirldany]

I was wondering how you guys print out your W-2s. I know you have to get the preprinted for the W-3, A. How about the other copies? Preprinted or do you let your software just print all of it out for you? QuickBooks will now print out actual copies of the W-2s. I had been ordering preprinted from Greatland but thought if I could save some money I might just try printing them myself.

Dany

[ecb34691]

Been printing out on plain paper the w-2's for a couple of years out of QB. Before QB, was using Medlin payroll and printing on plain paper. - edited - removed reference to red was thinking about somethime else ecb

[Jiggers]

Red Forms not required for W-3

I use my software to print the W-3 on plain paper. The same with W-2's.

You do need the red forms for the 1099's. Stupid.

[KBTS]

W-2 Supplies

I use QuickBooks for payroll and print the W-2's on blank forms that are perforated (which is required by the IRS for some reason). I believe you can print the W-3 on plain paper as long as you use a laser printer. I have ordered my supplies from www.tenenz.com the last couple of years. Prices seem very competitive and they usually have an offer for new customers for 10-15% off and an additional 5% off for ordering through the website.

[taxmandan]

We e-file the W-3 on the SSA website, and print the W-2s from that site to give to the employees. Much easier than paper returns, we e-file income tax returns, makes sense to e-file the W-2/W-3. I believe there is a way to upload bulk W-2 info to the SSA site from acct. software, but have not tried it.

Daniel

[Black Bart]

W-2/w-3

I was wondering how you guys print out your W-2s. I know you have to get the preprinted for the W-3, A. How about the other copies? Preprinted or do you let your software just print all of it out for you? QuickBooks will now print out actual copies of the W-2s. I had been ordering preprinted from Greatland but thought if I could save some money I might just try printing them myself.

Dany

Jiggers is right -- you can just print out the original SSA W-2s and W-3s on plain paper now because SSA no longer requires the scannable "red" forms. At first I was afraid to do it -- I didn't want to send in a big batch of laser-printed plain paper W-2s and chance a rejection and penalties or upsetting my customers. I called my forms supplier and they confirmed that, while they still sell lots of red forms, SSA now accepts both plain paper and scannable original W-2s and W-3s. Apparently lots of people don't know about it or don't want to change and are still buying the red forms.

I've been doing it for a couple of years now with no problems (note that, as Jig also said, plain paper's not allowed for original 1099s/1096s yet). Try printing original W-2s and W-3s on blank paper and you'll save money; I used to buy Greatland's preprinted stuff too -- it's expensive and you waste lots of forms just aligning the print.

For employee copies I still buy paper, but it's blank (not preprinted) and perforated so that it folds easily, and -- as KBTS pointed out -- perforation is required (there's a Rev Proc. -- 2003-28 & 2003-30 -- on it), and using scissors doesn't meet the reg. Also there's an IRS-required notice to employees imprinted on the back, although I've scissored and mailed many without it (employees are concerned about refunds -- not red tape).

I've been thinking about doing it like Taxmandan does -- going through the SSA website -- but I'm always leery about getting hooked up with government programs. Once you get in them, it's some trouble to get out (assuming that you can) of them, and half the time they're balky, structured, awkward, and are more trouble than they're worth.

Dan -- are you satisfied with it? Tell us something about how it's going, if you will.

[Joe Btfsplk]

W-2

You can print W-2s and W3s using your tax software and send them to the SSA instead of using the red, scannable forms. You can also go to the SSA's BSO website and file them on-line without the need for any kind of payroll software.

[geekgirldany]

Thank you guys for responding. This should save me a little money this year. I'll go ahead and buy the perforated forms. I guess I didn't remember about not having to use the red copies. I am also going to read about transmitting through the SSA. I knew about that but thought you had to have like over 100 employees to do it. Maybe that was for the magnetic media.

[John of PA]

Ams

I use AMS (Advanced Micor Solutions) 1099etc. payroll software. Does a good job printing W-2's & W-3 on blank paper. I also no longer use the red original forms but just send Soc Sec the black & white printout. I also use the blank perforated paper. It also prints the instructions page if you wish.

[JohnH]

Uni-Form & ATX

I use ATX and print the employee copies on the Uni-Form.

The Uni-Form prints everything on the front side and it can be used for both W-2's and 1099's. It's a big help to give everyone a perforated single sheet of paper with all their W-2 copies on it. You don't need to separate any forms or tear any perforations - just print it and distribute one sheet per employee. I also run copies of the Uni-Form for the client file copies. That way when someone loses their W-2 the client can just photocopy the Uni-Form in their files and hand it to the employee without bothering me about it.

Since the Uni-Form prints only on the front side (including all the year-specific boiler plate stuff), you can buy in bulk because you can use them year-after-year. I think I have about a 3-year's supply right now.

QuickBooks really should offer the Uni-form format as a service to their customers, but since they still use the old clunky printing formats, I just export the info to ATX. W-2 and 1099 info can be easliy exported from QB and imported into ATX with a minimum of hassle.

As everyone else has pointed out, it's been OK to use black & white for W-2 Copy A and W-3 for many years. ATX prints them on regular plain paper.

You still need red forms for 1099 & 1096 transmittal copies, but ATX has such good alignment features that it only takes a couple of minutes to get that done. I make photocopies of the red form to do the alignment, then start running the red forms after it's all set up.

Anyone who prints W-2 forms should look into getting set up with software capable of printing the Uni-Form, whether with ATX or another vendor. It makes life much simpler

[joanmcq]

I use the Uniforms too, but efile the W-3s with the SSA. efiling is so easy, I was paying for the W-2/1099 software just so I wouldn't have to deal with paper filing!