W-2 Filing - "Help! How Do I Prepare a W-2?"

I just received a rather frantic sounding email from a new business owner. He has one employee and he just realized he has to provide that person with a W-2. He wanted to know if I had any suggestions. Here are the options:

Order Forms from the IRS
You can order W-2 and 1099 forms from the IRS directly. This is probably not your best option at this point, because they take a week or more to arrive and the deadline is next Monday (February 2).

Prepare Online Through the Social Security Administration
Go to the Business Services Online (BSO) site and register. Then you can prepare W-2s online. Read the BSO Electronic W-2 Filing Handbook for more information.

Use an Online Service
If you don't want to go through the process of registering with the BSO, you can find many online services that will, for a fee, of course, let you input the information and print out or send out W-2s and 1099s. One I looked at is FileTaxes.com . They charge a small fee for each form you prepare - under $5 for one W-2.

If you have just a couple of employees, and you are short of time, online preparation for employees and filing with the SSA is an easy way to beat the deadline.

How to Prepare a W-2
Before you start, review my article on How to Prepare a W-2, to learn about the information you need to gather, before you go online and start the process.