Every employee who hasn't consented to an electronic W-2 gets Copies B, C and 2 on paper, properly addressed and in the mail by Monday, February 1, 2027. From the IRS's own PDF, that's pages 4 through 9; from payroll software, it's usually a two-sheet employee set. The IRS counts the form as furnished once it's properly addressed and mailed on or before the due date, so the day it enters the mail is the day you have to hit, not the day it arrives.
Start with your roster, not the printer. It splits into four groups with their own rules: current employees on paper, people who left during 2026, employees who consented to electronic delivery, and former employees who ask for the form.
Sort your roster into four groups before you print#
Group | What they get | Date |
|---|---|---|
Current employees, no electronic consent on file | Paper Copies B, C and 2 | In the mail by Monday, February 1, 2027 |
Employment ended before December 31, 2026 | Paper Copies B, C and 2, any time after they leave | No later than Monday, February 1, 2027 |
Consented, electronically or on paper, to an electronic W-2 | An electronic W-2; paper if consent is revoked | The same February 1, 2027 date |
A former employee who asks for the form | The completed copies | Within 30 days of the request or final wage payment, whichever is later |
The first group is usually the biggest: no consent on file means paper. Every row rests on the IRS's General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3 (opens in new tab), and the consent rule in Publication 15-A.
Current employees: pages 4 through 9, in the mail by February 1, 2027#
Copy B is for the employee's federal return, Copy C is for their records, and Copy 2 is for a state, city or local return. In the 2026 Form W-2 PDF (opens in new tab) from IRS.gov, those copies and the instructions between them are pages 4 through 9.
Page | What it is |
|---|---|
4 | Copy B, for the employee's federal return |
5 | Notice to Employee |
6 | Copy C, for the employee's records |
7 | Instructions for Employee |
8 | Copy 2, for a state, city or local return |
9 | Instructions for Employee, continued |
Copy A (the SSA's), Copy 1 (your state, city or local tax department, if it requires one) and Copy D (yours) stay out. A Copy B printed in black from the IRS PDF is fine to mail: the IRS says Copy B and the other black copies may be downloaded, completed, printed and used to give the employee their information.
If payroll software or your accountant made the forms, the employee set is usually shorter, often two sheets, in the software's layout. Keep the pages marked for the employee and take out anything marked for the SSA, a tax department or the employer.
Employees who left during 2026: send now, and no later than February 1#
If someone's employment ended before December 31, 2026, you may furnish their copies at any time after it ends, and no later than Monday, February 1, 2027. Mail a departed employee's W-2 as soon as their payroll is final, while the address you hold is still current.
Employees who consented to an electronic W-2#
You may furnish a W-2 electronically only to employees who consent, electronically or on paper, under the rule in Publication 15-A (opens in new tab). You may not send a W-2 electronically to an employee who hasn't consented or who has revoked consent, and employees must be told that they'll get a paper W-2 if they don't consent. Publication 15-A also sets what you must tell a consenting employee and how long the electronic form must stay available. So the test for every name is whether a consent is on file: none, or a revoked one, means paper on the same February 1, 2027 date.
A former employee who asks for the form: 30 days#
If an employee whose employment has ended asks for their W-2, give them the completed copies within 30 days of the request or within 30 days of the final wage payment, whichever is later. Mail the copies to the address in the request, and keep the request with the date it arrived.
One PDF per employee#
Whatever the source, each employee gets one file holding only their pages.
- Print the filled-in IRS form to a new PDF first; fillable fields can render blank when printed or uploaded.
- Set the page range to 4 through 9 so Copy A, Copy 1 and Copy D stay out.
- If your software exported every employee into one long PDF, print each employee's pages to their own file and name it after them.
The step-by-step, including what to do when the printed file is still blank, is in our guide to mailing 1099 forms.
Keep the form and the envelope plain#
Publication 1141 (opens in new tab) bars advertising, logos and slogans on the employee copies of the W-2 and on the envelope they go in. That stays your responsibility whoever prints and mails the form, so keep the envelope plain and leave the benefits flyer out.
When you send through Postmarkr, you upload one employee's PDF and address it to that employee. The letter prints as you uploaded it, and a separate address page goes on top, carrying the employee's address and your return address; you never line up a form to a window.
Up to six sheets, counting the address page, fold in thirds into a standard #10 double-window envelope with a security tint inside; a longer document goes in a larger flat envelope. Letters print double-sided by default, and the IRS PDF is itself laid out for two-sided printing (page 6 says the Notice to Employee is on the back of Copy B), so pages 4 through 9 plus the address page come to four sheets and fold into the #10. Choose single-sided printing and the same mailing is seven sheets, which goes in the flat envelope. A two-sheet payroll export folds into the #10 either way. Every page and the total show in a preview before you pay. Each employee is one letter, up to 10 letters per checkout; Bulk Send mails one document to many recipients, so it isn't the tool for per-employee W-2s. Your letter enters the mailstream by the next business day. That's Postmarkr's timing, not the IRS's; the January 25 send-by in the calendar below leaves a week of room for it.
Postmarkr prints and mails the letter you upload. It doesn't file Copy A with the SSA, files nothing with the IRS, doesn't send Certified Mail and provides no USPS proof of mailing. The letter's dashboard record is your own dated record of what went out and when. A letter that comes back because the address was incorrect or incomplete isn't refunded or resent free, so check each address before you pay.
Dates for tax year 2026 W-2s#
Date | What it means |
|---|---|
Monday, January 18, 2027 | Federal holiday (Martin Luther King Jr. Day) |
Monday, January 25, 2027 | Suggested send-by, a week before the due date |
Monday, February 1, 2027 | Employee copies due, in the mail; Copy A and W-3 due at the SSA |
The due date is February 1 because January 31, 2027 falls on a Sunday, and the 2026 instructions print the Monday. Monday, January 18 is a federal holiday, so the week leading up to the send-by date has one business day fewer. The week is our suggested cushion, not a processing time. If you mail the forms yourself, February 1 is your last day to get them into the mail. Mailing on time satisfies the IRS, but your employees need the form in hand to file, so look at how long First-Class Mail takes before you set your own date.
When a W-2 comes back undeliverable#
What the IRS requires
- Keep for four years any employee copies you tried to deliver but couldn't, unless you can produce the undelivered W-2 electronically through April 15 of the fourth year after the year at issue.
- Do not send undeliverable employee copies to the SSA.
What's practice, not rule
- Note the date it came back and keep the returned envelope in the employee's file.
- Confirm the address with the employee, update payroll, and mail the copies again, noting that date too.
The SSA and the IRS are different trips#
Copy A and Form W-3 go to the Social Security Administration, due the same Monday, February 1, 2027, whether you file on paper or electronically. None of the six copies is addressed to the IRS. You must e-file if you have 10 or more information returns in total for the year, W-2s plus other information returns.
The Copy A in the IRS PDF can't be filed. The IRS says not to print and file a Copy A downloaded from IRS.gov with the SSA, and you may be charged a penalty for filing forms that can't be scanned. SSA Business Services Online has a W-2 Online tool that takes up to 50 Forms W-2 per report and prints copies suitable for your employees; the General Instructions (opens in new tab) cover filing with the SSA.
Questions that come up in January#
Can I get more time to furnish W-2s?#
Only by asking, and only before the date. File Form 15397 (opens in new tab) online through the IRS's mobile-friendly forms or by fax, never by mail, on or before Monday, February 1, 2027. The extension isn't automatic. If approved, it generally runs no more than 15 days from the due date, unless you clearly show a need for up to a total of 30 days. The extension page (opens in new tab) has the filing details.
Can I print employee copies on plain paper?#
Yes. Copy B and the other black copies in the IRS PDF may be downloaded, completed, printed and given to the employee. Substitute employee copies from software must be on white paper in black ink, easily separated (perforations preferred), with boxes and titles matching the official form and the form number, title and tax year shown.
What if I find a mistake after mailing?#
If you haven't filed with the SSA yet, void the Copy A, prepare a new W-2, write "CORRECTED" on the new employee copies and furnish them. If Copy A is already filed, use Form W-2c and give the employee their copy as soon as possible; if the original was furnished electronically, the W-2c must be furnished electronically too.
What does a late or missing W-2 cost?#
The IRS charges a per-form penalty for a statement not furnished by February 1, 2027, in tiers that rise the longer it takes: furnished within 30 days of the due date, by August 1, 2027, or later or never. Yearly caps apply and are lower for small businesses, and intentional disregard carries a higher per-form amount with no cap. The amounts for statements due in 2027 are in the Penalties section of the General Instructions (opens in new tab).
What stays in your files#
- A copy of each Form W-2 and the Form W-3, for at least four years.
- Any employee copies you couldn't deliver, for four years, unless you can produce them electronically through April 15 of the fourth year after the year at issue.
- Each electronic-delivery consent, so you can show why someone didn't get paper.
- Your own dated record of when each envelope went into the mail, plus any request from a former employee with the date it arrived.
That's the job: every employee without a consent on file has their pages in the mail by Monday, February 1, 2027, and your folder holds the copies, the consents and the dates.