Print W-2's

To print W-2’s, go to Payroll > Year End Tax Reporting > Print W-2s.

Year to Print

Enter the year to print W-2's for here. 

Employee YTD totals must have already been archived.

Top Margin

The Top Margin is a setting in inches that controls where on the page the forms will start printing. Increasing this setting will move all of the information farther down on the page.  Decreasing this setting will move all the information up.

Each of the forms (2 Up, 3 Up, and 4 Up) have a different default top margin setting.  In most cases you will not need to adjust this setting.

For the 3 Up and 4 Up forms, you can also press [F12] while the cursor is on this entry to control additional settings to fine-tune where the forms are printed.  This might be necessary if your forms do not match exactly the forms that Datatech used when programming the print positions.  All of the position settings are measured in inches.

For the 3 Up forms, you can control the starting vertical positions of each of the three forms on the page.

For the 4 Up forms, you can control horizontal offsets for the two left and two right forms and a vertical offset for the bottom forms. Entering a negative horizonal offset will move the left or right forms to the left; entering a positive horizontal offset will move the left or right forms to the right.  Entering a negative vertical offset will move the bottom forms up; entering a positive vertical offset will move the bottom forms down.

State to Select

If you need to print W-2’s for multiple states, you can enter the state to print here.  Otherwise, leave this entry blank.

Type of Employees

Select either Regular or Agricultural employees.

Type of W-2's

For laser printers, you can select either 2 per Page, 3 per Page, or 4 per Page forms.  You also have the option of printing an Employer Copy of the W-2 on blank paper.  This is the only copy that the program will print the form for you, and cannot be used for any of the employee copies or the S.S.A.’s copy.

Printing W-2’s on dot matrix printers is still possible; however this option is no longer supported as of 2011.  The only format supported for dot matrix printers is single wide.  The next time the W-2 form is changed by the IRS, we will no longer support W-2’s on dot matrix.

Custom Format: Do not use the Custom Format option unless instructed to do so by Datatech Support. This is designed for a pressure sealed mailer format and requires special equipment.

Employees to Print

You can print W-2's for all employees, a single employee, resume printing at a specific employee account if W-2 printing was interrupted, or select multiple employee accounts to print.

Print Order

Select the order you want to print W-2's in.

Exclude Employees With Invalid S.S. #’s (No W-3)

Select this box to exclude employees that do not have a valid Social Security Number.  An invalid number starts with three zeros or has zeros for the middle two digits.

When this box is selected, the W-3 form will not be printed.

Skip Printing of Employees With No Address (employee copy only)

Account #/Name Key

If you are printing a single W-2 or resuming printing, enter the employee account here to print/start printing at.

W-3 Printing

When you are printing all employees or resuming printing at a specific employee account, the program will ask you if you want to print the W-3 when all of the W-2's have been printed.

If you need to print the W-3 only, you can use the Preview button to display the W-2's in the Preview window, close it, then the W-3 will be previewed in a separate window.

W-2 Printing Tips

First, make sure that you have enough W-2 forms for all your employees. To help determine how many forms you will need, click on Payroll, Year End Tax Reporting, Count Employees with YTD Wages.  This option will provide you with the minimum number of W-2's to order. You should have some additional forms in case of printer problems, or employees that need another copy.

Follow the instructions below that apply to the printer you are using for printing W-2's.

Printing Single Sheet W-2's on Laser or Ink Jet Printers

First, make sure which way you need to feed the forms into the printer. This will depend on the printer you have. Some printers may require the form to be face down, others face up. If you aren’t sure, experiment on blank paper first.

Some customers have reported problems with their laser and ink jet printers not feeding the W-2 forms correctly. The printer pulls the form in at an angle, resulting in the page being skewed, and possibly some amounts not printing within the correct boxes. If you suspect that this is happening to you, try printing a W-2 on a blank piece of paper and compare how it prints to what is printed on the W-2 form. Sometimes, the printer will feed blank paper in ok, but not the W-2 forms. Since this is a problem with the sheet feeder mechanism on the printer, our software cannot do anything to prevent this. Have the printer serviced by your dealer to correct the problem.

You may need to adjust the top margin setting for the W-2’s to line up properly. This is due to variations between different printer drivers, models and manufacturers.  You can print a test W-2 on blank paper before printing them for all employees, by selecting a single employee to print, or by previewing the W-2’s to the screen and printing only page one.

In our testing, the default top margin setting of 2/3” (0.6667) for the 2 per page W-2’s worked correctly on two different models of HP Inkjet printers.  The same setting used on three different laser printers resulted in the W-2’s printing too high on the page (each of the three laser printers in fact, printed the W-2’s in a slightly different position).  In this case, the top margin setting needed to be increased by a different amount for each printer.

These differences in how W-2’s print out on different makes and models of printers are due to differences in printer drivers that are beyond our control.  If you find the W-2’s start printing too high on the page, try increasing the top margin.   If the W-2’s start printing too far down on the page, decrease the top margin.

Making Adjustments: 4 per Page Format

If you are printing with the 4 per page format and need to make adjustments, follow these steps:

  1. Under Type of W-2’s, select 4 per Page.

  2. Click in the Top Margin entry, ensuring the entry is selected.

  3. Press the F12 key. This will bring up the following window:

  1. Make your adjustments for the form and click Ok.

Restarting W-2 Printing

In some cases, you may need to stop printing W-2’s and restart at a later time.  For instance, the printer may be running out of toner, you run out of W-2 forms, or you need to print payroll checks, etc.

If this happens, you can restart printing right where you left off.  Be sure to make a note of the last employee that printed, and also what the printing order that you are using.  When you are ready to start printing again, select the Resume Printing option for the Employees to Print.  Then select the employee account that printing needs to resume with.  You can enter either the account number or name key.  If you are not sure what the next employee account should be, use the lookup.  Find the employee account that printed last, then change the lookup order to match the print order that you were using.  You can then see which employee should come next.

W-2 FAQ

What is considered a bad address for W2 printing?

The program will determine a bad address when one of the following has occurred:

1.    The Bad Address checkbox is selected on the employee’s account.

2.    The mailing address, city, or state is blank in the employee’s account.

3.    The zip code is blank in the employee’s account.

When an employee has worked in multiple states, will he get a W-2 for each state?

Currently, if an employee works in two different states, the program will print a single W-2 listing both states.  The W-2 will list the wages, withholding, and local tax (if any) for both states.

The program does not currently print a separate W-2 if the employee works in three or more states for each state.  If you have employees that have worked in three or more states, contact Datatech Customer Support.

How do I print an amount for moving expense reimbursements on the W-2?

Certain amounts are printed in box 12 on the W-2.  There are spaces for up to four different amounts.  In box 12, there is space for a letter code and an amount.  The letter code identifies what the amount is for.  The letter codes are identified on the back of the W-2 form given to the employee.

Letter codes for some items, such as deferred compensation plan contributions, are handled automatically by the software.  Other codes may not be.  In these cases, the customer may at this time use a typewriter to enter the letter code and amount on box 12.  As long as the amount does not get reported on the W-3/electronic filing, it can simply be added to the W-2 after it is printed.

Moving expense reimbursements that can be excluded are printed in box 12 using the “P” letter code.  These amounts are not totaled on the W-3 and can be added manually.

At some point in the future, we may add fields for entering other amounts that need to be reported in box 12 to the YTD employee archive file.