W-2 forms are tax forms that are sent out each year to employees who are paid traditional wages, bonuses and other forms of compensation by employers. Employers are required to send these tax forms to any employee who earns at least $1 during any calendar year before the last day of January.
A copy of a form W-2 must be sent to the Social Security Administration in order to meet the Internal Revenue Service's tax form distribution requirements. This form is called a form W-2 copy A. This tax form summarizes an employee's total compensation that was earned during a calendar year. It also lists how much tax that was withheld from an employee's earnings to satisfy Federal Insurance and Compensation Act requirements.
