Form W-2 box by box

Wage and Tax Statement

A W-2 reports one employee's wages and the tax withheld from them for one calendar year, issued by the employer. The employee gets a copy by 31 January and the Social Security Administration gets one at the same time.

Who files it: The employer, for every employee paid during the year.
Where it goes: The Social Security Administration, which shares the data with the IRS. Copies go to the employee and to the state where one is required.
When it is due: 31 January, both for the copy to the employee and the filing with the SSA.
What it is not: It does not report contractor payments. A payment to someone who is not an employee goes on a 1099-NEC, and the distinction is the worker's status rather than the size of the payment.

What it reports

The numbered boxes are the same on every W-2, whoever printed it. These are the ones people look for.

The named lines of Form W-2 and what each reports
Box	What it reports
1	Wages, tips, and other compensation subject to federal income tax.
2	Federal income tax withheld.
3	Wages subject to Social Security tax, capped at that year's wage base.
4	Social Security tax withheld.
5	Wages subject to Medicare tax. There is no cap on this one.
6	Medicare tax withheld.
12	Coded entries: retirement contributions, HSA, and much else, each with a letter code.
13	Checkboxes for statutory employee, retirement plan, and third-party sick pay.
15 to 17	The state, the state wages, and the state income tax withheld.

Why box 1 and box 3 differ

Box 1 is reduced by pre-tax deductions that escape federal income tax, and 401(k) contributions are the usual one. Box 3 is not reduced by them, because those contributions are still subject to Social Security tax. So an employee contributing to a 401(k) sees a box 3 larger than box 1, and that is the form working correctly.

Box 3 is also capped at the Social Security wage base for the year, while box 5 is not. A high earner therefore sees box 5 larger than box 3, by the amount their wages exceeded the base.

Several copies, one form

A W-2 arrives as Copy B for the federal return, Copy 2 for the state, and Copy C for the employee's records. They carry the same numbers. A file holding all three is one W-2 rather than three.

LedgerBox reads this form

LedgerBox reads this form. Upload a W-2, digital or scanned, and download every box as spreadsheet rows.

How LedgerBox reads a W-2

Form W-2 questions

What if my W-2 is wrong?

Ask the employer for a corrected form, which is a W-2c. Do not adjust the numbers yourself on the return; the IRS matches against what the employer filed with the SSA.

Why is box 1 lower than my salary?

Pre-tax deductions come out before box 1: retirement contributions, health premiums, HSA and FSA amounts. Box 1 is taxable wages, not gross pay.

What does the code in box 12 mean?

Each letter code names a specific item, such as D for 401(k) elective deferrals and DD for the cost of employer-sponsored health coverage. The W-2 instructions list every code.

Reference pages on the forms that arrive with a set of books. Every form in the glossary