Basic Payroll Customers: Steps to File Your SSA File

In this article:
Create or Access Your BSO Account
How to Upload Your W-2/W-3 Wage File to the SSA

Background

If you’re a Basic Payroll Customer, you’re responsible for filing your own Form W-2s and Form W-3 with the Social Security Administration (SSA) at year-end. Check out the SSA’s tutorial on how to upload the wage report to the SSA.
- Patriot can file your W-2/W-3 to the SSA on your behalf. After creating your W-2s, you will be given the option to have Patriot file for you. Follow the steps and accept the one time fee of $50.

Full-Service Payroll Customers who have completed the tax filing setup will have Patriot filing W-2s and W-3s for you—no further action is needed on your part after you have created your employee W-2s.

Electronic Filing Requirement

If you file 10 or more W-2 forms, the IRS requires you to file electronically.
You’ll need to download the electronic SSA file from Patriot Software. This file contains all the necessary W-2 and W-3 information. For help downloading your file, see the article Filing Your W-3 Using Patriot Software.

Create or Access Your BSO Account

Register for a Business Services Online (BSO) Account(if you don’t have one):
- Go to Business Services Online (BSO).
- Click Register on the BSO homepage.
- Fill out the registration form:
  - Provide your name, email address, EIN, and other company details.
  - Create a username and password.
- Complete registration by confirming your email address through a link sent by the SSA.
Please read the SSA article “How To Create A Business Services Online (BSO) Account,” for more information on how to verify your identity and get started with a BSO account.
New and current users should allow at least 2 weeks to complete the registration process. For more information, go to the SSA’s website at SSA.gov/bso.

How to Upload Your W-2/W-3 Wage File to the SSA

Step 1: Log into your Social Security Business Services Online account.

Step 2: Once you have logged in, click the link “Submit a Formatted Wage File”

Step 3: What’s in the File: Select “W-2/W-3 forms for Tax Year {xxxx} or previous tax year (EFW2)”

Step 4: The “Upload File” section will appear AFTER you choose the radio button for “Select W-2/W-3 forms for Tax Year {xxxx} or previous tax year (EFW2)”. You can browse your files on your computer and find the W-2/W-3 txt wage file you have downloaded from Patriot.