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Posting Electronic W-2s to the Employee Portal

In this article:

Background

According to IRS Publication 1141, the IRS allows employers to provide employees with an electronic copy of their Form W-2, as long as the employee has a way to receive the W-2 electronically, and has consented to receiving an electronic W-2 instead of a paper copy.  

Providing the W-2 electronically to your employees eliminates the need to print and distribute paper copies, and the employee can access as soon as you make available. This feature is available to all payroll customers.

Posting electronic W-2s in the employee portal software is optional. You can still choose to print and distribute paper W-2s to your employees, especially terminated employees who may not have employee portal access.

Before You Post W-2s to the Employee Portal

Before posting electronic W-2s to your employees’ self-service portal, be sure you have completed the following steps:

  1. Add employee email addresses.  It is required that in order for an employee to register and use the employee portal, the employee’s email address must be added to their Personal Info record.  When an employee has a valid email address, Patriot will automatically send a confirmation email to both you and your employee when they have consented or revoked their consent to receiving an electronic W-2.  Employees will also receive a notification when you post the W-2 to their employee portal.  
  2. Send employee portal registration email invitations. If any of your employees do not already have their employee portal login set up, you can send an invitation from the “Employee Portal” tab on their record.  You may also send invites terminated employees, if you wish.  For details on how to send invitations for employees to register for portal access, see Employee Portal Registration Access.
  3. Notify your employees about the electronic W-2 option, and ask them to log in to their portal to give their consent to receiving their W-2 electronically.  For details, see Employee Consent for Electronic W-2s.
  4. Preview W-2s and make updates as needed.  Previewing the employee W-2s is a crucial step before you actually download and post to the employee portal. If corrections are needed you can either run additional payrolls, void payrolls, or contact Customer Support to make payroll edits. See our help article, “Preview W-2 Forms” for more information 
  5. Create and download W-2s for all employees.  For more details, see How to Download and Print W-2 Forms in Patriot Software.

How to Post W-2s to the Employee Portal

  1. Go to Reports > Payroll Tax Reports > W-2 Forms
  2. In the middle section of the page, click “Post W-2s to Employee Portal.”
  3. Click “Yes” to the confirmation message.
  4. All employee W-2s are now available in the employee portal, regardless of the employee’s current status with your company. Each employee can log in and view their electronic W-2 for convenience—even if they haven’t consented to electronic delivery.
    • For those who haven’t provided consent, you are still required to issue a paper copy in addition to the electronic version. These employees will receive an automated email notification at the address you have on file. You may also choose to notify them directly.

Posting a Second Time After a W-2 Correction

You can still make corrections to a W-2 after you have already posted to the employee portal.  

  1. Follow the steps to Correct a W-2 for an employee,
  2. Click “Post to Employee Portal” again.
  3. The employee will receive another email notification to let them know an updated W-2 is available.  Per IRS regulations, it is not necessary to write “CORRECTED” on an electronic W-2, only paper W-2s.  

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