W-2 Generator for Employee and Employer Copies

A W-2 is a summary of a year of pay stubs, rearranged into boxes the IRS and SSA understand. If your stubs are right, the W-2 follows from them. Our W-2 generator takes your year-end payroll totals and lays them out on the employee and employer copies you need to furnish and keep.

What you get, and what you still file

Copy	Who it's for	From PayStubShop?
Copies B, C and 2	The employee: federal return, records, state or local return	Yes
Employer copy	Your records	Yes
Copy A	Filed with the SSA together with Form W-3	No. E-file it through SSA Business Services Online, or use official red-ink scannable forms

The IRS is explicit on this point: don't print Copy A from IRS.gov and file it. The SSA accepts only e-filed reports and the official red-ink versions or approved substitutes. If you file 10 or more information returns in total, counting W-2s and 1099s together, you must e-file. The SSA's online service is free and generates Form W-3 for you. Our generated vs. filed tax forms guide covers the full filing side.

From pay stub YTD to W-2 boxes: a worked example

An employee earns $2,000 biweekly in Texas for all of 2026, 26 paychecks. Each check has a $100 pre-tax 401(k) deferral and a $40 pre-tax Section 125 health premium. The final December stub's year-to-date column shows:

YTD item on the December stub	Amount
Gross pay	$52,000.00
401(k) deferral (pre-tax)	$2,600.00
Section 125 health premium (pre-tax)	$1,040.00
Federal income tax withheld	$3,623.10
Social Security withheld	$3,159.52
Medicare withheld	$738.92

Those totals land on the W-2 like this:

W-2 box	Amount	How it's derived
1 Wages, tips, other compensation	$48,360.00	Gross minus 401(k) minus Section 125
2 Federal income tax withheld	$3,623.10	Total withheld, as on the stub
3 Social Security wages	$50,960.00	Gross minus Section 125; 401(k) deferrals stay in
4 Social Security tax withheld	$3,159.52	Equals Box 3 × 6.2%
5 Medicare wages and tips	$50,960.00	Same base as Box 3 here; no cap
6 Medicare tax withheld	$738.92	Equals Box 5 × 1.45%
12, code D	$2,600.00	401(k) elective deferrals
15–17 State	Blank	Texas has no state income tax

Two checks catch most W-2 errors. Box 4 should be very close to 6.2% of Box 3, and Box 6 close to 1.45% of Box 5. And Box 3 can never exceed the Social Security wage base: $184,500 for 2026.

Wages follow the pay date

Box 1 reports wages you paid during the calendar year. A paycheck for the last week of December 2026 that is paid on January 8, 2027 belongs on the 2027 W-2. Stubs work the same way, which is why the December stub's YTD should match the W-2 exactly. Our YTD guide explains the year boundary in detail.

What's new on the 2026 form

• Box 14 is split into 14a (Other) and 14b (Treasury Tipped Occupation Code).
• Box 12 has a new code TP for the total cash tips reported to the employer.
• The W-2 wage reporting threshold rose from $600 to $2,000 for wages paid after 2025, but only where no federal income, Social Security or Medicare tax was withheld. Nearly every employee has Social Security and Medicare withheld, so nearly every employee still gets a W-2.

Deadlines for 2026 W-2s

Task	Due
Furnish Copies B, C and 2 to employees	February 1, 2027
File Copy A and Form W-3 with the SSA	February 1, 2027, on paper or electronically
Employee asks for a W-2 after leaving mid-year	Within 30 days of the request or final wage payment, whichever is later
Keep Copy A and W-3 copies	At least 4 years

January 31, 2027 is a Sunday, so the usual January 31 date moves to Monday, February 1. Late or incorrect W-2s can draw penalties per form. For returns due after 2026 they start at $60 per form when corrected within 30 days and reach $340 when not filed or not corrected.

How the W-2 generator works

1. Enter the employer's name, address and EIN, and each employee's name, address and SSN.
2. Enter the annual totals, or carry them over from the December stub's YTD.
3. Review the box-by-box preview. The math checks above are visible before you pay.
4. Pay $14.99 per employee and download the copies right away, with an email link and 90 days of re-downloads from order lookup.

You can batch several employees in one order and include pay stubs, 1099-NEC or 1099-MISC copies in the same checkout. Corrections are free for 30 days. If a box needs fixing after you've furnished the form to an employee and filed it with the SSA, the official fix is a Form W-2c filed through the same channels.

If someone worked for you as a contractor rather than an employee, they get a 1099-NEC, not a W-2. Our W-2 vs. 1099 guide explains the difference.