The Social Security Administration recently released the EFW-2 and EFW-2C publications, which contains the electronic filing specifications for filing Form W-2 and W-2 corrections.
While the publications indicate there are no record layout changes for tax year 2019, there are several updates that filers should be aware of for the upcoming tax year.
- The Social Security Wage base, the applicable tax rate and threshold, and the threshold for Household Wages were all increased for TY 2019:
- Wage base: $132,900 (up from $128,400);
- Tax rate for withholding: 6.2% up to $8,239.80 (up from $7,960.80);
- Household wage threshold: $2,100.
- A section was added to the Filing Requirements reminding filers about the money types that are not reportable in the EFW-2 format:
- Code J: Nontaxable Sick Pay
- Code K: 20% Excise Tax on Excess Golden Parachute Payments
- Code L: Substantiated Employee Business Expense Reimbursements
- Code P: Excludable Moving Expense Reimbursements Paid Directly to a Member of the U.S. Armed Services.
- The mailing address for filing extensions using Form 8809 was updated for TY 2019:
- Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service Center, Ogden UT 84201-0209.
- Regarding corrections transmittals (EFW-2C), a number of record positions which were not applicable to territorial employees (Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, etc.) were edited to include those employees. See the specifications for RCW (Employee), RCO (Employee Optional), RCT (Total), RCU (Total Optional), RCE (Employer), and RCO (Employee Optional) record specifications for greater detail.
To review these updates and specifications further, visit the Social Security Administration’s website.
