Annual Wage Reporting Definition

Employers must report employee wages and tax withholding information on Form W-2 to the Social Security Administration (SSA) as part of their annual wage reporting responsibilities.

Annual Wage Reporting Extended Definition
Annual wage reporting is the process of reporting employee wages and taxes withheld to the Social Security Administration using Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement.

Employers must send Forms W-2 to the employee, SSA (along with Form W-3), and applicable state tax department. This lets employees and tax agencies know how much each employee earned in wages and paid in taxes. Forms W-2 report federal income, Social Security, Medicare, state, and local tax information.

The SSA uses the annual wage report to assess Social Security benefits for workers and credit earnings to each employee. Then, the SSA passes W-2 data to the IRS.

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Last Updated By

Rachel Blakely-Gray | Feb 14, 2023