The Social Security Administration (SSA) reminded employers using the agency’s new Wage File Upload process that the EFW2 file must have a .TXT or .ZIP extension. SSA said it has been encountering filers who forget to add the extension before uploading their files. SSA is including a reminder on its Employer W-2 Filing and Business Services Online (BSO) Welcome pages. Wage reports for tax year 2021 must be filed with the SSA by January 31, 2022.
If an employer cannot create a file to support a .TXT or .ZIP extension, then the submitter can use the older file upload process. These submitters will not get immediate results.
New Option for Uploading Form W-2 Files
In late 2021, SSA announced it has a new way to upload files for Forms W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, and W-2c, Corrected Wage and Tax Statement, through BSO. Files must meet SSA’s EFW2 specifications to use the new process.
The new Wage File Upload will process an employer’s files and provide results in real-time. Users will receive a receipt right away indicating if it is a “success” or if there are “errors.” When the file is rejected, SSA will list the errors on the screen. The program will not send a Wage File Identifier (WFID) until all errors have been fixed and the file passes all edits.
SSA created a tutorial, a video, and a training PowerPoint for the process.
To learn more about federal and state laws, regulations, and information to keep your company's payroll operations in compliance, check out Payroll Source Plus!
Jyme Mariani, Esq., is Managing Editor of Payroll Currently and Senior Manager of Payroll Information Resources for the APA.