Distribute W-2 forms to your employees

Gusto can mail your Forms W-2 and W-2c (if applicable) directly to your employees for just $5 per person—mailing fees will be added to your monthly invoice. 

Important

• You can only request that we mail W-2 forms once per tax season and edits can't be made to your order once placed, so make sure to select all employees who need their forms mailed.
  • Once the order is placed, it cannot be canceled.
• In order for forms to be compliantly postmarked by the Jan 31 IRS deadline, you'll need to submit your Gusto order in Gusto by Jan 28.

To have Gusto mail forms to one or more of your team members:

1. Sign in to your admin profile.
2. Click the Taxes & Compliance section and select Tax documents.
3. Click the W-2s tab.
4. Click the Distribute 202X W-2s button.
   • This button will only be available once the form packages are final. It will not be available when forms are still drafts.
5. Select I'd like Gusto to mail them to my employees.
6. Click Continue.
7. Review how it works and agree to the terms for sending forms.
8. Click Continue.
9. Select all employees whose forms you want Gusto to mail—you can only place one W-2 order, so any employees not selected will still need to have their forms distributed another way unless they've agreed to go paperless and receive their forms electronically. You can select to:
   • Only mail to people who haven't requested electronic-only copies (recommended)
   • Mail to everyone
   • Individually select people to mail forms to
10. Click Save and continue.
11. Complete any remaining pages or prompts—these will vary based on your selection above.
12. Review the summary of the order and total cost.
13. Click Submit order.

If you have contractors whose forms you’d like to mail, follow these steps to distribute them.

We’ll send all original Forms W-2 and all corrected Forms W-2c—this includes any and all corrected Form W-2cs generated after the original Form W-2. 

Download a mail-friendly packet of all your employees’ Forms W-2.

This specific packet does not include the employer-copy (Copy D) of Forms W-2. To download a full packet that includes the employer copy for records, follow the instructions in the dropdown below.

1. Sign in to your admin profile.
2. Click the Taxes & Compliance section and select Tax documents.
3. Click the W-2s tab.
4. Click the Distribute 202X W-2s button.
   • This button will only be available once the form packages are final. It will not be available when forms are still drafts.
5. Click I'd like to download and distribute them on my own.
6. Review how to build your tax form packet and click Continue.
7. Select all employees whose forms you want included in the mailable packet. 
   • We’ll email you when your packet is ready to download, and you’ll find it on your Documents page in a new row. You can also try refreshing this page in a few minutes—once it’s ready, you’ll see a link to download on the right.
8. When it’s ready, click the download icon and print your employees’ Forms W-2.
   • Print the forms on standard, white printer paper (8.5" X 11"). 
9. Put all three forms (B, C, and 2) per employee in each envelope*.
   • *Envelope requirement: use standard 6666-2 W-2 envelopes, which can be purchased from various locations.
10. Mail the Forms W-2 to your employees by Jan 31. 
    • If you need more time, find the IRS extension request instructions here.

Get a PDF bundle for all employees’ Forms W-2, including employer copies, and hand them out in person (if needed).

1. Sign in to your admin profile.
2. Click the Taxes & Compliance section and select Tax documents.
3. Click the W-2s tab.
4. Click the Download W-2s and W-3s button.
5. Select the year.
6. Click Download.
7. If you need to distribute any, print the Forms W-2 for employees.
   • Print the forms on standard, white printer paper (8.5" X 11").
8. Put all three forms (B, C, and 2) per employee in each envelope*.
   • *Envelope requirement: use standard 6666-2 W-2 envelopes, which can be purchased from various locations.
9. Distribute the Forms W-2 to your employees by Jan 31. 
   • If you need more time, find the IRS extension request instructions here.

If only a few of your employees need paper W-2s, you can also download specific employee’s individual Form W-2s from their profile. To do so:

1. Sign in to your admin profile.
2. Go to the People section. 
3. Click your employee’s name.
4. Click the Documents tab.
5. Under “Employment Documents”, click W-2: Wages and Tax Statement for the applicable year.
   • Final forms are made available in mid-to-late January.
6. Download, print, and distribute the Forms W-2 to employees.
   • Print your employee's W-2 on standard, white printer paper (8.5" X 11").

You’re required to distribute paper copies of your teams’ W-2s unless they’ve given consent for electronic distribution. 

Forms will be available to distribute by Jan 28, and the deadline to distribute is Jan 31. 

To check and see who has provided consent for electronic distribution in Gusto, follow these steps: 

1. Click the Taxes & Compliance section and click Tax documents. 
2. Click the W-2s tab at the top of the page.
3. You’ll see a list of each teammate, with a column showing their delivery preference—this is only available once final forms are available in Gusto. 
   • Note: Since you’re required to provide paper copies, we’ll set their preference as “paper copy” by default if they haven’t chosen a preference yet. Employees who want to go paperless must update their delivery preference by Jan 16, 2025 (before forms become available) to take effect for the 2024 tax documents. 
4. Teammates who opted into electronic delivery will be able to view and download their W-2 in the Documents section of their Gusto account—we'll email them when their final Form W-2 is available.

Form W-2 contains wage information for the year for a specific employer. Information from the W-2 is used when filing annual federal tax returns (personal ones).

Employees can access Form W-2 in their Gusto account.

The descriptions below are simplified summaries, and there may be other factors to consider when filing out each section—learn more in the detailed IRS guidelines for filling out Form W-2.

​Box a: Your Social Security number—make sure this is correct.

Box b: Your company's Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN).

Box c: Your company's name, legal address, and zip code.

Box d: This box can include a control number. Gusto does not use one, and it's not required.

Box e: Your legal first name, middle initial, and last name—make sure these are correct.

Box f: Your home address and zip code.

Box 1: Your total wages subject to federal income tax for the year. This includes tips. This does not include pre-tax contributions, like contributions to section 125 health plans or 401(k) plans.

Box 2: The total amount of federal income tax withheld from your paycheck for the year.

Box 3: Your total wages subject to Social Security tax for the year. This amount will not include pre-tax contributions.

Box 4: The total amount of Social Security tax withheld from your paycheck for the year.

Box 5: Your total wages subject to Medicare tax for the year. This amount will not include pre-tax contributions.

Box 6: The total amount of Medicare tax withheld from your paycheck for the year.

Box 7: Your reported tips for the year.

Box 8: Tips assigned to you in addition to your reported tips. No income, Social Security, or Medicare taxes have been withheld on allocated tips.

Box 10: Amounts withheld from your paycheck to pay dependent care benefits for the year.

Box 11: Amounts you received from your company's non-qualified retirement plan.

Box 12: This box is used to show several types of compensation or benefits that are labeled with a letter code. For a complete list of codes, see the General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3, page 32.

Box 13: This indicates if you were a statutory employee, participated in the company's retirement plan, or received third-party sick pay for the year.

Box 14:  Other informational items such as S-Corp Insurance contributions and Personal Use of Company Car.

Box 15: The state where your company is located and their state identification number.

Box 16:  Your total wages subject to state income tax for the year. This amount will not include pre-tax contributions.

• If you worked in the state of New York at any given point during the year, box 16 will always match box 1, even if you were not there the whole time.

Box 17: The total amount of state income tax withheld from your paycheck for the year.

Box 18: Your total wages subject to local, city, or other state income taxes for the year.

Box 19: The total amount of local, city, or other state income taxes withheld from your paycheck for the year.

Box 20: The code or name of the local, city, or other state tax reported in Box 19.

Q: Does an employee need to be active in Gusto to get a W-2 at the end of the year?

A: Active and dismissed employees will have a Form W-2 created so long as:

• There are applicable W-2 wages to report (that were processed in Gusto, or reported to Gusto before the end-of-year deadline)
• You're a current customer, or a previous customer who asked Gusto to file your end of year forms.