Form W2 and W3

The following information is covered in this chapter:

• Important Notes
• Processing & Printing W2s
• Printing Form W3
• Troubleshooting

Important Notes

Things you should know before processing W2s:

• The Year-end Update contains all the 2004 changes to Forms W2 and W3.
  Install the Year-end Update after processing your last payroll for the year but before processing and printing your W2s and W3 for the year.



• You must use the 2004 Year-end Update to process and print your 2004 W2s.
  You cannot print W2s from a W2 Queue that were created with earlier versions of the payroll program.

The instructions provided in this chapter apply only to those users who have purchased their W2 forms directly from Aatrix Software.
To order Aatrix's W2 forms, call Aatrix Sales at 1-800-426-0854. If you are using non-Aatrix W2 forms, refer to your payroll User Guide in regard to aligning the W2 fields.

Processing and Printing W2s

The processing and printing of W2s is laid out a series of steps. Follow each step carefully.

• Step 1 - Before processing and printing W2s
• Step 2 - Processing your W2s
• Step 3 - Printing a W2 Queue Detail Report
• Step 4 - Printing your W2s

Step 1 - Before processing W2s

Before processing and printing W2s

1. In your payroll application, access the Company tab window and verify that your company information is entered correctly.

Your Federal ID number should be entered in the following format XX-XXXXXXX (replacing the X's with the appropriate number and including the hyphen).

2. Make sure payroll items deductions are set up properly.

If you have a deduction that you want printed in the State or Local portions of the W2 form, and the deduction is currently not set up as a State or County Type, you must change the deduction type to State or Local (whichever applies) See Changing a payroll deduction type .

Step 2 - Process Your W2s

In processing a W2, you first will review an individual employee's form data, add it to the print queue, and then go on to the next employee. If applicable, use the commands in the Report menu to help in the processing of your W2s. A brief description of each command in this menu is provided in Appendix A, Preview Report Menu commands .

Processing W2s

1. In the Reports tab window of your payroll application, click the Standard report tab.

3. Select Form W2 from the Reports list.

If the Form W2 report option is not displayed in the Reports list, click the Edit List button on the toolbar. In the Edit List window, make sure the Form W2 report is selected for display in the Reports List.

4. Make appropriate selections for reporting options.

Report on List

or Report on Employee and then select the appropriate list from the pop-up or employee name.

Skip employees not paid

Mark or unmark this checkbox as you require.

Report period

For Form W2, this pop-up will default to One Year and the year 2004 will display in the Year field directly below.

Report Limits

If appropriate, you can narrow down the W2s to be printed in the Report Limits box by selecting to print for a specific department, pay period, or other limits.

5. When selections are made, click the Preview Report button on the toolbar.

This launches the W2 Setup dialogue.

6. Make appropriate selections in the W2 setup dialogue and then click the OK button.

For a brief overview of the boxes in this dialogue, see The Form W2 Setup dialogue . For complete, detailed information about any of the boxes on the W2 can be obtained by calling the IRS at 800-TAX-FORM and requesting the pamphlet called Instructions for Form W2 or by accessing www.irs.ustreas.gov on the Internet.

7. When selections in the W2 Setup dialogue are complete, click the OK button.

The Preview W2 window for the first employee in the Employee List will appear. It is designed to look like an actual W2 form. The fields are automatically filled in with the employee's Pay History information.

8. IMPORTANT: Before proceeding with W2 processing for the first employee, verify that there are no "old" W2s in the W2 Report Queue.

To do so, select Report > View/Print Queue from the File menu. If there ARE any W2s in the queue, click the Remove All button and then click the Yes button in the verification window that follows.

The View/Print Queue command is grayed out when the W2 Report Queue is empty. A brief description of each command in the Report menu can be found in Appendix A, see Preview Report Menu commands .

8. Process the W2 for the first employee.
9. Verify the information for displayed employee is correct.

If changes to any of the fields are necessary, click or tab into the field that needs editing and enter the correct information.

9. Select Report > Add to Queue when information has been verified.

After the W2 is queued, the W2 for the next employee in the Employee List is automatically displayed.

10. Repeat Steps 9 and 10 for every employee who worked for you throughout the year.
11. When finished, select Report > Print/View Queue.

This launches the W2 Report Queue dialogue.

After processing and queuing all the employees and launching the W2 Report Queue dialogue, you are ready to move on to the next set of instructions, Step 3 - Printing the W2 Queue Detail Report .

Although the information in the next section will guide you through the process, you may wish to study a general overview of the W2 Queue Dialogue and all of its controls before continuing. See The Report Queue dialogues for more information.

Step 3 - Print the W2 Queue Detail Report

The Queue Detail Report displays the W2 information and totals for each employee. Before printing your W2s, use this report to verify that all of the W2 information for each employee in the queue is correct. This might seem like an un-needed extra step, but whether you are processing seven or several hundred W2s, it can save you a lot of time and frustration.

Printing a W2 Queue Detail Report

These instructions assume you have processed and queued all your employee W2 reports and have selected Report > View/Print Queue according to the preceding sections of this guide. You should now be in the W2 Report Queue dialogue.

1. Click the Report button in the W2 Report Queue dialogue.

This launches the standard Mac OS print dialogue.

2. Click the Print button.

The W2 Queue Detail report simply prints the details of each employee's W2 information in a block format. It is a quick and easy way to check figures and make sure you didn't miss anyone, or queue him or her twice.

• Examine the Queue Detail Report to verify the W2 information for each employee is accurate.
• Make sure that there are no duplicated or unnecessary entries. The values for the W3 report come directly from the W2s that are in the W2 Report Queue.
• If you find an error, select (highlight) the employee whose W2 needs to be corrected, then click the Remove button to remove the information from the queue. Reprocess the employee W2. After adding the corrected form to to the queue, reprint the Queue Detail report and re-verify the information.

Proceed to the next step, Print your W2s, when you are sure that all the W2 information in the W2 Report Queue is correct.

Step 4 - Print Your W2s

      Printing process in general

W2s require printing four separate sets of copies to complete the entire printing process. The four different sets of copies are as follows:

• Federal Red Copy: This phase of W2 printing prints the Federal Copy A copies. The program prints form data only (referred to as "just the numbers") on the pre-printed Federal (Red Copy A) forms that you send to the government. Two different employees are printed on each pre-printed form.
• Employer Copy: This phase of W2 printing prints the Employer copies. The program prints the entire form, including data and background graphics, on perforated legal size sheets. Four different employees are printed to each sheet.
• Employee Copy: This phase of W2 printing prints your Employee copies. The program prints the entire form, including data and background graphics, on perforated legal size sheets. Each employee receives a sheet with four W2 copies on it (a federal, state, local, and personal copy).
• Notice to Employee: This phase of W2 printing prints the Notice to Employee information sheet onto a piece of 8.5 x 11 plain paper. All your employees should receive a Notice along with their W2. The program prints two employee notices per sheet of paper.

In general, it is always a good idea to print a test page before printing onto pre-printed or perforated forms.

Printing Test copies

Before you print your actual copies, it is a good idea to print test samples of each of the four parts of the W2 Form. This way, you make sure the data is aligned and printing properly before you ruin a preprinted form or an expensive stack of perforated pages. Each set of copies for the W2 has different paper requirements, but the test printing process is the same for each and outlined in the next instruction set. These instructions assume you have clicked the Print or Print All button in the W2 Report Queue dialogue and are in the Print Queue dialogue.

How to print test copies

1. In the Print Queue dialogue, click the Sample button.

This will generate the standard OS Page Setup dialogue.

2. In the Page Setup dialogue, choose the appropriate page size for the type of W2 your are printing.

• Federal Red: use a photocopy of a preprinted form, an extra preprinted form, or plain US letter sized paper  
• Employer and Employee copies: use US Legal 11 x 14 size paper or a few of the pre-perforated sheets for these copies.  
• Notice to Employees: Use plain US letter size paper  

3. Select the Portrait paper orientation (normal as opposed to the "sideways" or landscape mode).
4. When selections are made, load the correct paper for the type of W2 you are test printing. Refer to the descriptions in Step 2 above.
5. Click the OK button.

This launches the standard Mac OS print dialogue.

6. Click the Print button to print your sample form.
7. Verify that all the fields are aligned correctly.

To do so, take your sample printout and hold it over an actual W2 form.

If the text on your sample printout lines up to an actual pre-printed form or falls into the proper spaces on the pre-perforated sheets, continue with printing the actual W2 copies.

If the text on your sample printout does not line up to the actual pre-printed form, you can take the following measures to correct them.

Page Align

Usually the Page Align feature easily corrects most printing alignment problems. To access the Page Align feature, click the Page Align button in the Print Queue dialogue.

Enter a numeric value into the Vertical and Horizontal entry boxes and choose the appropriate radio button for Up, Down, Left, or Right. Click the OK button and print another sample form. Make more adjustments if needed, or if the sample is acceptable, proceed to printing your actual W2 copies.

Edit Template

You should only use the Edit Template button to make adjustments to government forms as a last resort. You might accidentally remove fields or make changes to the wrong ones instead of simply moving them. Moving fields may also have unfortunate results, as many forms are machine read and require the data to fall into position a certain way. This may result in your company's and your employee copies being rejected by the filing agency. If you must make such large adjustments, refer to the Payroll Series User Manual Chapter 10, Check Designer, for information on moving or changing fields on a template.

All right! Your pages are adjusted and you're ready to print those W2s. We'll start with the Federal Copy A, sometimes affectionately called the Federal Red copy, that gets remitted to Social Security Administration.

Print the W2 Federal Copy

Make sure you've printed a Sample form to test your printer for alignment before printing your Federal copies. Load the printer with the preprinted Federal form and follow these instructions.

Printing the W2 Federal copy

1. In the Print Queue window, choose the Federal (Red Copy) radio button.
2. From the Template pop-up menu alongside, select W2 Federal Red.

If you use a version of the software prior to v14.x: At this step, click the Page Setup button and set the Page Size as US Legal and the orientation as Portrait. In Version 14.x and above, simply clicking the Sample or Print button will automatically generate the Page Setup dialogue. Users of older versions of the payroll application should always click the Page Setup button each time a new template is selected.

The instructional text in the scrolling window of the Print Queue dialogue will indicate how many forms you need to insert into your printer. You may have to scroll down to view.

3. Click the Print W2s button.

The Macintosh Page Setup dialogue will open. Make sure the settings are still correct from the sample form you printed earlier.

The Federal Red copy settings should be US Letter for size and Portrait (normal) for orientation.

4. Click the OK button to launch the Macintosh Print dialogue if settings are correct.
5. In the Macintosh print dialogue, click the Print button.

When done printing the Federal copy, proceed to the Employer copy, discussed below.

Print the Employer Copy

The Employer Copy prints a copy of each employee W2 for your records. Make sure you print a sample copy using the directions in How to print test copies . To print the Employer copies, you will need to use 8.5 x 14 pre-perforated sheets. Four employee records get printed to each sheet. Print your sample, make adjustments as needed, and proceed as directed below.

Printing the employer copy

1. In Print Queue dialogue, choose the Employer Copy radio button.
2. From the Template pop-up menu alongside, select W2 Employer Copy.

If you use a version of the software prior to v14.x: At this step, click the Page Setup button and set the Page Size as US Legal and the orientation as Portrait. In Version 14.x and above, simply clicking the Sample or Print button will automatically generate the Page Setup dialogue. Users of older versions of the payroll application should always click the Page Setup button each time a new template is selected.

The Print Queue window will indicate how many forms you need to insert into your printer. This is indicated in the 3rd paragraph of instructions in the scrolling list window on the right hand side of the Print Queue window.

3. Click the Print W2s button.

The Page Setup dialogue will re-open. Verify the settings remain correct from printing your sample copy.

For this form you must use the US Legal page size and the Portrait (normal) page orientation. Then click the OK button to call the standard Mac OS Print dialogue, but do not click the Print button until after the printer is loaded with the correct paper!

4. Load 8.5 x 14 perforated sheets into your printer.
5. Click the Print button.

When the Employer copies have been printed, proceed to the next section, Print Employee Copies.

Print Employee Copies

You're almost finished! Now you print the copies that go to your employees. As with the Employer copies, you will use the 8.5 x 14 pre-perforated paper. Each sheet will have a federal, state, local, and employee record copy of each individual's W2 data. Make sure you print a sample form according to the instructions in How to print test copies before you proceed.

Print employee copies

1. In the Print Queue dialogue, choose the Employee Copy radio button.
2. From the Template pop-up menu alongside, select W2 Employer Copy.

If you use a version of the software prior to v14.x: At this step, click the Page Setup button and set the Page Size as US Legal and the orientation as Portrait. In Version 14.x and above, simply clicking the Sample or Print button will automatically generate the Page Setup dialogue. Users of older versions of the payroll application should always click the Page Setup button each time a new template is selected.

The Print Queue window will indicate how many forms you need to insert into your printer. This is indicated in the 3rd paragraph of instructions in the scrolling list window on the right hand side of the Print Queue window.

3. Click the Print W2s button.

The Page Setup dialogue will re-open. Verify the settings remain correct from printing your sample copy.

For this form you must use the US Legal page size and the Portrait (normal) page orientation. Then click the OK button to call the standard Mac OS Print dialogue, but do not click the Print button until after the printer is loaded with the correct paper!

4. Load 8.5 x 14 perforated sheets into your printer.
5. Click the Print button.

When printing is complete, proceed to the next step. the Notice To Employee. The hard parts are behind you and you're nearly finished with the W2s!

Print the Notice to Employee Copy

The Notice to Employee option prints an information page that describes the fields on the W2 Form. The notice must be given to each employee with his or her W2. For this notice, you need regular letter size printer paper and shouldn't have to print a sample copy--although you may want to print one to make sure the text isn't going to print off the page. Each page will have two Notices on it, so you'll have to cut the pages in half when printing is finished.

Print the Notice to Employee Copy

1. In the Print Queue window, choose the Notice to Employee radio button.
2. Load letter size plain paper into your printer.
3. Click the Print W2s button.

The Page Setup dialogue will open. Verify the settings are correct for this form.

You will need US Letter page size and the Portrait (normal) page orientation. Then click the OK button to call the standard Mac OS Print dialogue, but do not click the Print button until after the printer is loaded with the correct paper!

4. Click the Print button.

The program prints two Employee Notices per sheet of paper.

Whew! You're done printing the W2 part of the Year-End procedure, probably the most time-consuming and complicated forms printing process of the year. Congratulations. Now we'll proceed to Form W3--and after all the previous stuff, this should be easy!

Process Form W3

The Form W3 report is a summary of all the W2 form data you are submitting to the Social Security Administration. The information for your W3 report is extracted from the W2s in the W2 Report Queue. Therefore, you must make sure that all your employees who worked for you throughout the year are still in the W2 Report Queue and that you do not have any duplicated or unnecessary entries. If you ran the W2 Queue Report at the beginning of this process as described, you will undoubtedly already have caught the errors, omissions, or duplications.

If you are not still in the W2 Print Queue dialogue at this point, you can access the W3 dialogue by selecting Form W3 in the Reports tab window and clicking the Preview Report button. If your W2 information is current, click the Continue button in the alert dialogue that appears to access the Print W3 Form dialogue.

If you are still in the report queue dialogue after printing your Form W2s, simply click the W3 button to display the Print W3 Form dialogue.

Processing Form W3 consists of three stages: Enter Information, Print Sample, and Print Report.

Enter the W3 information

1. In the Print W3 dialogue, verify that the W3 Form displays in the Print using the template pop-up.
2. Select the Kind of Payer by marking the appropriate checkboxes.
3. Select or fill out the remain information as needed.

Field d

Enter the Establishment Number.

Field h

If applicable, enter the other EIN (Employer Identification Number).

Field 13

Enter the third-party sick pay.

Field 14

Enter the income tax withheld by third-party payer.

Contact person/E-mail address

Enter your company's contact person and his or her E-mail address. This information will default from the Company window, but you can override this information for this dialogue if appropriate. Doing so will not affect the contact person information in the Company window.

When all information is entered, it's time to print a sample report to make sure the form data will print correctly to the preprinted government form.

Print sample W3

1. Click the Sample button.
2. Insert 8 1/2" x 11" plain paper sheets into your printer, or use an extra pre-printed red W3 form, to print your sample.

Because printers differ on how they "grab" paper, be sure to note how your printer prints (e.g., data face up, data face down direction).

3. Follow Instructions 3 to 7 How to print test copies and take appropriate action to align your form if necessary.
4. Use the sample printout to compare the W3 values with your W2 Queue Summary Report and Totals report to ensure that they match.

The program prints the Sample W3 using actual employee W2 information from the W2 Report Queue.

When alignment is made and data checked for accuracy, you are ready to print the actual filing copy of the W3.

Printing the W3 Federal copy

1. Insert the pre-printed red W3 form into your printer.
2. Click the Print W3 button.

This will generate the Macintosh OS print dialogue. Make sure your settings remain correct from your sample printout and the correct paper is loaded, in this case the preprinted Federal Red copy of Form W3.

3. Click the Print button.

Once the W3 prints, review, sign and mark yet another checkbox off on your Year End procedure checklist.

Before deleting the W2s from the W2 Queue, copy the Payroll W2 Queue file located in the Employee Files ƒ folder to external media. This will provide you with a backup if you ever need to access the information at a later date.

Top Pay 14.x users: Employee files ƒ folder is located inside QuickBooksÆ/Aatrix Top Pay/Company.

Payroll Series v15 users: Look for the Employee files ƒ folder in Documents/Payroll/Company. (The name on the Company folder will be the name of your company).

If you have not done so already, now is a good time to go back and make sure any payroll item deductions that might have been changed for the W2 reports are returned to their original format as described in Step 1 - Before processing W2s .

Troubleshooting Form W2 and W3

Q My W2s do not look right when I print them out. What do I need to do to correct this?

A If the layout of your W2 printout does not look right, verify that you have selected the correct template. For example, if you need to print just the numbers on the RED Copy A federal form, you must select the "W2 Federal Red" template that is appropriate for your printer. if any other template is selected (e.g., employee copy), your printer will print the layout of the selected template.

Q My state ID # does not appear on the W2 Setup window?

A Click the Company tab. Select your state from the list and enter your state ID # in the appropriate field.

Q My W2s print black over the entire form.

A Your color match for your printer is set to Black/White. Set your color match or print options to Color/Grayscale.

Q My W2 Queue shows all garbled data.

A Your W2 Queue file is still in your files from last year. To remedy this situation you will need to trash the W2 Queue file that is located in Aatrix Payroll/Company folder/Employee Files folder. You should then relaunch the program and re-queue the W2s.

Q More than one item appears in the State/Local box.

A In the State section of the Form W2 Setup dialogue , make sure all boxes in State and Local are set to None. Scroll down the list the make sure you didn't miss any items. Then scroll as needed to select your state and/or local deduction. Click the OK button and return to the form to verify only one state/local item appears.

Q Only my employee's name prints, and no address prints.

A Access the Employees tab window of the payroll program, make sure you have entered address information for this employee, and save the changes.

Q Why did I get all of these blank white legal sheets? What are these for? Should I throw them?

A NO! These are the special pre-perforated sheets you need for printing your Employer and Employee copies of Form W2.