Jan. 31 filing deadline remains for employer wage statements, independent contractor forms

Blog # 71

Jan. 31 filing deadline remains for employer wage statements, independent contractor forms

Wage statements and independent contractor forms still have a Jan. 31 filing deadline.

Before the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act, employers generally had a long period of time to file these forms. But the 2015 law made a permanent requirement for employers to file their copies of Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement and Form W-3, Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements with the Social Security Administration by Jan. 31.

Forms 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Income, filed with the IRS to report non-employee compensation to independent contractors are also due at this time. Such payments are reported in box 7 of this form.

The early filing date means that the IRS can more easily detect refund fraud by verifying income that individuals report on their tax returns.

Employers should verify employees’ information. This includes names, addresses, and Social Security or individual taxpayer identification numbers.

Employers should ensure their company’s account information is current.

Automatic extensions of time to file Forms W-2 are not available.