The IRS recently released its 2026 General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3, the comprehensive guide for wage and tax statement reporting. This publication is generally updated annually, with this year’s version dated January 29, 2026.
The most significant changes stem from Public Law 119-21, enacted July 4, 2025, which introduced three new reporting requirements to support employee tax deductions: cash tips reporting to support a qualified tips deduction, qualified overtime compensation reporting to support an overtime deduction, and employer contributions to Trump accounts. To accommodate these changes, box 14 was split into box 14a for general items and box 14b for Treasury Tipped Occupation Codes, and three new box 12 codes were added (TA, TP, and TT).
P.L. 119-21 also raised the wage reporting threshold from $600 to $2,000 when no taxes are withheld. The filing due date changed to February 1, 2027 for 2026 forms. Several amounts increased due to inflation, including the social security wage base from $176,100 to $184,500, health FSA limits from $3,300 to $3,400, adoption exclusions from $17,280 to $17,670, and QSEHRA maximums. Code P was expanded to include intelligence community employees, and State Paid Family and Medical Leave Act payments must now be included as wages. Maximum penalty amounts also increased across all categories due to inflation adjustments.
