Filing Your W-3 Using Patriot Software

After you distribute W-2 forms to your employees, you must file a W-3 Transmittal of Wages with the Social Security Administration (SSA) along with a copy of each employee’s W-2 on Form W-2 copy A.

If you are a Full Service Payroll customer, we will electronically file these for you. After we have filed, you can find your SSA confirmation under Reports > Payroll Tax Reports > Tax Filings.

If you are a Basic Payroll customer, you will need to file these yourself, but you can download the file in Patriot Software to upload to the SSA, or print Form W-2 copy A and Form W-3. Patriot also offers electronic filing of only your W-2/W-3 for a one-time fee of $50.00. If you would like Patriot to file your W-2s on your behalf (and no other taxes), please email our Support team at support@patriotsoftware.com with your request.

There are two ways you can file yourself:

Option 1: File electronically

The IRS requires that employers must file electronically if they have 10 or more informational returns to file, which includes 1099s and W-2s. This means if you have paid at least 10 employees and/or contractors, you will need to file your W-2s electronically. You can download an electronic file from Patriot Software and upload the file to the SSA.

Reports > Payroll Tax Reports > Create W-3/SSA File Please note this W-3 wage file satisfies both the W3 requirement and the W2 copy A requirement.
Select the Year.
Enter your Business Services Online user ID. This is an 8-character ID you use to log into your Business Services Online account. This user ID will be included in the file data.
Click the “Create” button to download and save the .txt file to your computer.
Upload this file to the Social Security Administration through your Business Services Online account. For detailed upload steps, see Basic Payroll Customers: Steps to Upload your SSA File.

Option 2: File a paper Form W-3 & W-2 Copy A by mail

Patriot will file the W-3 form for active Full Service Payroll customers who have Patriot filing company payroll taxes at year-end.

Basic Payroll customers who have paid 9 or fewer workers for the year can print a Form W-3 and W-2 Copy A to send it to the Social Security Administration.

Reports > Payroll Year End Forms > W-3 Forms
Select the year
Click download
You can print and mail to the SSA. W-3 forms will not need to be purchased. The SSA has approved Patriot’s Form W-3 for blank paper submission.

To print W-2 Copy A please see “How to Download and Print W-2 Forms in Patriot Software.”

W-3 Summary Report

The W-3 summary report is an employer copy for your records and convenience. It is available to both Basic payroll and Full Service payroll customers. For more information, read “Company W-3 Summary Report.“