What Is Tax Form W-3?

The IRS tax form W-3 is the transmittal of wage and tax statements for Social Security statement purposes. An annual report is provided to the Social Security Administration to determine your estimated benefits upon retirement or permanent disability.

Numbers collected include:

• Medicare taxable wages
• Social Security taxable wages
• All withholdings for the entire year

Employers must provide the Social Security Administration with all W-3 information for each employee prior to the end of February. In addition, employers must also furnish a copy of each employee’s W-2 statement. The wages earned, and all other boxes with taxable income or wage numbers must match.

Submitting Tax Form W-3

Forms W-2 and W-3 should be submitted together with your 1040 form, either electronically or by traditional U.S. mail service. When beginning income and wage statements for employees, it is ideal to complete both forms at the same time for each employee. The Social Security Administration is likely to reject submissions not containing both forms.

Accuracy

Accuracy is a must when completing tax forms W-2 and W-3. Discrepancies can result in forms being returned or rejected. To prevent rejections, ensure that all of your numbers are correct and matching. The business information, including your employer tax identification number are also required to be correct.

The W-3 form is simply a summary of your employees’ earnings totals, by breakdown, of their earnings for reporting to the Social Security Administration.