Available to Basic Payroll, Full Service Payroll
A W-2 Form is a report of all employee income and tax withheld for a calendar year. This is needed in order for the employee to file their income taxes. The IRS requires that employers distribute the W-2 to each employee by January 31st of the following year.
Creating and printing W-2 Forms is included in your payroll subscription at no additional charge. If you are no longer an active customer with Patriot, you can still create and download W-2 Forms in your software account as long as your account is in good standing.
Video Walkthrough
The video shows the steps for creating and downloading W-2 Forms in Patriot. The article below details each step.
Steps for Creating Employee W-2 Forms
Before you download and print your W-2s, we recommend you preview them first. Check out our help article, “Preview W-2 Forms,” to view the amounts for each employee and confirm that everything is correct. This report will print a preview copy which will be watermarked “preview.
After you have previewed your W-2 forms to confirm everything looks good, you can create the W-2 forms
Go to Reports > Payroll Year-End Forms > W-2 Forms.
Select the year.
Select W-2 PDF Layout options.
You’ll be able to choose how you want your W-2 to be printed the first time you come to this page. To change these settings at a later date go to Settings > Payroll Settings > W-2 Print Settings.One copy per page for blank paper
Four copies per page for blank perforated formsFor details explaining the difference between these two print options, see “W-2 Print Options in Patriot Software.”
Check the “Post W-2s to Employee Portal” if you want to post to the employee portal for employees who have given consent at the same time you create the W-2 forms. You can also post the W-2s to the employee portal later after you review. All employees with an email address on file will receive an automatic notification that their W-2 is available in their employee portal Note: You must provide paper copies to employees who have not given consent to receive a digital copy of their W-2. For more details, see Employee Consent for Electronic W-2s.
Click the “Create W-2s” button modal.
If you have a large number of employees, the software will notify you that you may leave the page and will be notified when the W-2s are ready via email. This shouldn’t be more than a few minutes, and only if you have a large number of employee W-2s to create.Once your W-2s are created, a PDF will download to your device to wherever your default downloads are set to. To view the W-2's open the pdf.
To post W-2s to the employee portal, click the modal that reads Post W-2s to Employee Portal.
Confirm you want to post to the portal in the pop-up modal.
To print the W-2s, click the Distribute Paper Copies modal, and open the PDF.
Select if you want to download All W-2s or just to Employees who require a paper W-2.
There will be options to print the W-2 pdfs in whatever program or browser your PDFs open with.
Load either your blank printer paper or perforated blank forms in your printer, depending on your PDF layout selection.
If you have made changes after you have created the W-2s, must recreate your W-2s. Click “Create New W-2s” to create a new W-2 with the updated information.
This will replace your former version. If you have employees who use their portal to view their W-2, you will need to post the most recent version of the W-2s to your employee portal.
Creating W-2s FAQs
Does Patriot mail employee W-2s for me?
Patriot does not mail W-2s to employees. You will have to print and give employee W-2s if they haven’t consented to receive electronic copies of their W-2. For more information about electronic W-2s, see “Posting Electronic W-2s in Patriot’s Employee Portal.”
Does Patriot file employee W-2s for me?
If you are a Full Service Payroll customer and you have completed your tax filing setup, Patriot will electronically file your W-2s to the SSA and any states requiring year-end W-2 reconciliation filings on your behalf.
You can find the filing confirmation number by going to Reports > Payroll Tax Reports > Tax Filings. If you are a Basic Payroll customer, you will need to file your W-2s yourself or can request Patriot file to the SSA on your behalf. See the help article Filing Your W-3 for more information.
Can I get W-2s when I am no longer an active customer?
As long as your account is in good standing , you can access all reports and create and download W-2s and post them to the My Patriot portal. Employee portals remain active so they can still receive their W-2s and download their pay stubs even after you are no longer a payroll customer.
Employee W-2 Activity Report
Located on the Create W-2 page (Reports > Payroll End of Year Forms > W-2 Forms), the Employee W-2 Activity report tracks the most recent posting date of the employee W-2 and displays which employees consented to receive a digital copy of their W-2. We’ll also highlight the employees needing a printed W-2 with an attention icon.
Click the Show Employees link under the Employee W-2 Activity to expand and to view all of your employee W-2 electronic consent, when a W-2 was posted and if paper forms are required for the employee.
You can also check boxes next to the employee to select employees then click the “Download Selected W-2s” to print paper W-2 forms for from this report.
Next, read, “Posting Electronic W-2s to the Employee Portal“