Box a: Control numberOptional number for the whole transmittal.Click to open the row in the table belowBox c: Total number of Forms W-2Count of completed W-2s in this batch. Do not count VOID forms.Click to open the row in the table belowBox d: Establishment numberOptional; lets you file a separate W-3 for each establishment under one EIN.Click to open the row in the table belowBox e: Employer identification number (EIN)Same EIN as your Forms 941, 943, 944 or CT-1, never a prior owner's EIN or your SSN. Not truncated.Click to open the row in the table belowBox f: Employer's nameSame name as on your employment tax returns.Click to open the row in the table belowBox g: Employer's address and ZIP codeYour address.Click to open the row in the table belowBox h: Other EIN used this yearAny other EIN (including a prior owner's) used on a 941, 943, 944 or CT-1 for 2026. Agents generally enter the client employer's EIN here.Click to open the row in the table belowBox 1: Wages, tips, other compensationTotal of box 1 on the enclosed W-2s, excluding VOID forms.Click to open the row in the table belowBox 2: Federal income tax withheldTotal of box 2; must agree with income tax withheld on the year's four Forms 941 (or Form 943/944).Click to open the row in the table belowBox 3: Social security wagesTotal of box 3; reconciled with the 941s.Click to open the row in the table belowBox 4: Social security tax withheldTotal employee social security tax. The 941s, which carry both shares, should be about twice this amount.Click to open the row in the table belowBox 5: Medicare wages and tipsTotal of box 5; reconciled with the 941s.Click to open the row in the table belowBox 6: Medicare tax withheldTotal employee Medicare tax; again roughly half of the 941 figure.Click to open the row in the table belowBox 7: Social security tipsTotal of box 7; reconciled with the 941s.Click to open the row in the table belowBox 8: Allocated tipsTotal of box 8.Click to open the row in the table belowBox 10: Dependent care benefitsTotal of box 10 on the W-2s.Click to open the row in the table belowBox 11: Nonqualified plansTotal of box 11 on the W-2s.Click to open the row in the table belowBox 12a: Deferred compensationTotal of codes D through H, S, Y, AA, BB and EE only, with no code. TA, TP, TT, DD and the other codes are not totaled here.Click to open the row in the table belowBox 14: Income tax withheld by payer of third-party sick payOnly for an employer whose employees had income tax withheld by a third-party sick pay payer; included in box 2 but shown separately here.Click to open the row in the table belowBox 15: State, Employer's state ID numberState abbreviation and state ID; if the W-2s cover more than one state, enter X and no ID number.Click to open the row in the table belowBox 16 to 19: State and local wages and income taxTotals of W-2 boxes 16 through 19, with several states or localities combined into one sum.Click to open the row in the table belowHover over a box for what goes in it; click to open its row in the table below. On a touch screen, tap the box to jump to the row.
Who files Form W-3
Anyone required to file Form W-2 must file Form W-3 to transmit Copy A, “even if only one paper Form W-2 is being filed.” The form itself says “Do not send Form W-3 if you filed electronically with the SSA”; BSO creates it automatically from e-filed W-2s.
Group W-2s by type and send each group with its own W-3. Kind of Payer (check one): 941 (also churches not required to file 941 or 944), Military, 943 (agricultural employees only), 944, CT-1 (RRTA-covered railroad employees), Hshld. emp. (household employees whose taxes were not on a 941, 943 or 944) and Medicare govt. emp. Kind of Employer (check one): None apply, 501c non-govt., State/local non-501c, State/local 501c or Federal govt. The Third-party sick pay box is not a separate kind of payer; file one W-3 for the regular and sick pay W-2s.
A transmitter or agent may sign only under a valid agency agreement and writes “For (name of payer)” next to the signature. Payroll service providers enter the client's contact information, not their own.
Box by box
| Box | What it is | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| a | Control number | Optional number for the whole transmittal. |
| b | Kind of Payer, Kind of Employer, Third-party sick pay | Check one Kind of Payer and one Kind of Employer; a 943 box is only for agricultural employees and CT-1 only for RRTA employees. Check Third-party sick pay if any enclosed W-2 has that box 13 checkbox marked. |
| c | Total number of Forms W-2 | Count of completed W-2s in this batch. Do not count VOID forms. |
| d | Establishment number | Optional; lets you file a separate W-3 for each establishment under one EIN. |
| e | Employer identification number (EIN) | Same EIN as your Forms 941, 943, 944 or CT-1, never a prior owner's EIN or your SSN. Not truncated. |
| f | Employer's name | Same name as on your employment tax returns. |
| g | Employer's address and ZIP code | Your address. |
| h | Other EIN used this year | Any other EIN (including a prior owner's) used on a 941, 943, 944 or CT-1 for 2026. Agents generally enter the client employer's EIN here. |
| 1 | Wages, tips, other compensation | Total of box 1 on the enclosed W-2s, excluding VOID forms. |
| 2 | Federal income tax withheld | Total of box 2; must agree with income tax withheld on the year's four Forms 941 (or Form 943/944). |
| 3 | Social security wages | Total of box 3; reconciled with the 941s. |
| 4 | Social security tax withheld | Total employee social security tax. The 941s, which carry both shares, should be about twice this amount. |
| 5 | Medicare wages and tips | Total of box 5; reconciled with the 941s. |
| 6 | Medicare tax withheld | Total employee Medicare tax; again roughly half of the 941 figure. |
| 7 | Social security tips | Total of box 7; reconciled with the 941s. |
| 8 | Allocated tips | Total of box 8. |
| 9 | (blank) | Do not enter an amount. |
| 10 | Dependent care benefits | Total of box 10 on the W-2s. |
| 11 | Nonqualified plans | Total of box 11 on the W-2s. |
| 12a | Deferred compensation | Total of codes D through H, S, Y, AA, BB and EE only, with no code. TA, TP, TT, DD and the other codes are not totaled here. |
| 13 | For third-party sick pay use only | Leave blank (see Form 8922). |
| 14 | Income tax withheld by payer of third-party sick pay | Only for an employer whose employees had income tax withheld by a third-party sick pay payer; included in box 2 but shown separately here. |
| 15 | State, Employer's state ID number | State abbreviation and state ID; if the W-2s cover more than one state, enter X and no ID number. |
| 16 to 19 | State and local wages and income tax | Totals of W-2 boxes 16 through 19, with several states or localities combined into one sum. |
Due dates
| What | Due | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mail Form W-3 with Copy A of 2026 Forms W-2 | February 1, 2027 | SSA, Direct Operations Center, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18769-0001 (different ZIP codes for certified mail and private delivery). |
| E-filed W-2s | February 1, 2027 | No paper W-3; BSO generates it from the W-2s. |
| Keep a copy of Form W-3 and Copy A of the W-2s | At least 4 years |
Penalties
The penalties run per Form W-2, not per W-3: a late or incorrect transmittal means the attached W-2s are late or incorrect under IRC 6721 ($60 within 30 days, $130 by August 1, $340 after that, $690 minimum for intentional disregard, for 2026 forms). Filing paper when you were required to e-file, or filing a Copy A printed from IRS.gov that cannot be scanned, are both failures. See Form W-2 for the full penalty rules.
Corrections
A W-3 is corrected on Form W-3c, which always accompanies paper W-2c Copy A. If only the W-3 was wrong, file a W-3c with “-0-” in box d. An incorrect tax year or EIN on a filed W-3 takes two sets of W-2c/W-3c: one that zeroes out the amounts under the wrong year or EIN and one that reports them under the right one. See Form W-2c.
Where it goes wrong
The instructions put the reconciliation plainly: “Reconcile Form W-3 with your four quarterly Forms 941” for income tax withheld (box 2), social security wages, Medicare wages and social security tips (boxes 3, 5 and 7), and social security and Medicare taxes (boxes 4 and 6), where the 941 amounts, including current-year adjustments, “should be approximately twice the amounts shown on Form W-3.”
- Prior-year adjustments. 941 adjustments that belong to a prior year do not go on this year's W-2s and W-3.
- Two EINs. A mid-year EIN change, acquisition or agent arrangement leaves 941s under one EIN and W-2s under another; box h is the place to show it. Schedule D (Form 941), Report of Discrepancies Caused by Acquisitions, Statutory Mergers, or Consolidations, is the tool for those cases.
- Bonuses and noncash pay. Bonuses must be in social security and Medicare wages on both the W-2s and the 941s; noncash wages not subject to FICA must not be.
- Valid differences. The forms “may not match for valid reasons”; document them and keep the reconciliation. See CAWR reconciliation and a reply template for Letters 98C and 99C.
Inside the IRS: what happens to Form W-3
What the IRS sees. For each EIN, the CAWR system puts three sets of numbers side by side. Its money screen lists “the total amounts of Forms 94X, Forms W-2 (as processed by SSA), Form W-3/W-3C (as reported by the employer)” and the differences between them. So your W-3 is checked twice: against the W-2s SSA actually processed, and against the 941, 943 or 944 totals you reported to the IRS.
W-3 vs the W-2s behind it. If the W-3 totals do not equal the W-2s SSA processed, the IRS screening table calls it a “Balancing Error (W-3 reported W-2 processed amounts do not match)” and corrects the CAWR record before deciding whether to write to you. SSA runs its own match first, and “SSA only matches three fields during their reconciliation” (social security wages, social security tips and Medicare wages and tips). Income tax withheld is only compared on the IRS side.
Other EINs, agents and acquisitions. These are the EIN issues the IRS checks before it writes:
- “When the Forms W-3/W-2 exceed Forms 94X,” the IRS first researches any other EIN under which you may have filed additional 941s. Box h of the W-3 is where you show it.
- For a section 3504 agent that files W-2s under its own EIN, IRM 21.7.2 says “the employer’s EIN should be entered in box h of Form W-3.”
- After an acquisition, merger or consolidation, Schedule D (Form 941), the “Report of Discrepancies Caused by Acquisitions, Statutory Mergers, or Consolidations,” explains why the totals split between two EINs. “Electronically filed Schedule D information is downloaded automatically into CATRS,” the CAWR case system.
Timing and penalties. CAWR letters come late. In the reasonable cause section, the IRM notes “the Forms W-2 were due two to three years prior to the IRS issuing the Letter 98-C.” Lateness is decided by SSA: “A late filed Form W-2 is identified by the Social Security Administration (SSA),” and “CAWR function also works late-filing penalties for Forms W-2.” If you need more time, W-2 filers “can only request one non-automatic 30-day extension of time to file.”
What to do. Before you file, tie each W-3 box to the four quarters, show every other EIN you used in box h, and file Schedule D (Form 941) when an acquisition splits the year's totals between EINs. Keep the reconciliation file, because a Letter 98C or Letter 99C can arrive years later. See CAWR reconciliation for payers.
Notices about this form
Questions people ask about Form W-3
Do we file a W-3 if we e-file our W-2s?
No. The W-3 is only for paper Copy A. BSO generates the W-3 information from e-filed W-2s.
We have agricultural and office employees. One W-3 or two?
Two. The 943 box covers the agricultural employees' W-2s only; send the others with a separate W-3 (generally the 941 box).
Why is box 4 on the W-3 half of what our 941s show?
The W-2 and W-3 show only the employee share of social security and Medicare tax; Form 941 reports both shares. The instructions expect the 941 figures to be approximately twice the W-3.
What goes in box h?
Any other EIN used on a 941, 943, 944 or CT-1 for the year, including a prior owner's EIN. Agents generally enter the client employer's EIN.
Can we print the W-3 from IRS.gov and mail it?
No. The online Copy A is for information only and is not scannable; use an official red-ink form, an approved substitute, or e-file.
Other employer, withholding and ACA forms
Payroll and employment tax returns: W-4 · 941 · 941-X · 944 · 943 · 940 · W-2 · W-2c · 8027
Withholding returns: 945 · 1042
Health coverage (ACA) returns: 1095-C · 1094-C · 1095-B · 1094-B
Paper transmittal: 1096
All of them on one table · Information returns (1099 series)
Sources: 2026 Form W-3; 2026 General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3 (Specific Instructions for Form W-3; Reconciling Forms W-2, W-3, 941, 943, 944, CT-1, and Schedule H); IRC 6051, 6721.