The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) publishes annual instructions (General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3 (Including Forms W-2AS, W-2CM, W-2GU, W-2VI, W-3SS, W-2c, and W-3c) for filing Forms W-2 (Wage and Tax Statement) and W-3 (Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements). For information on correcting previously filed paper forms, refer to section heading General Instructions for Forms W-2c and W-3c.

SSA annually publishes specifications for filing electronic W-2c (Corrected Wage and Tax Statements) and W-3c (Transmittal of Corrected Wage and Tax Statements). These instructions are contained in SSA’s Specifications for Filing Forms W-2 and W-2c Electronically (EFW2C Publication 42-007 and EFW3C Publication 42-014), respectively.

See IRS’ General Instructions for Forms W-2c and W-3c (Including Forms W-2AS, W-2CM, W-2GU, W-2VI, W-3SS, W-2c, and W-3c)) for special reporting situations involving Forms W-2c and W-3c as well as SSA’s publication (Specifications for Filing Forms W-2c Electronically (EFW2C) (Publication 42-014)).

Forms W-2c correcting only Social Security wages and Social Security tips for an employee previously reported for Medicare Qualified Government Employment (MQGE)/Medicare for 1991 or later must show the total MQGE/Medicare wages previously reported in both the “Previously reported” and “Correct information” Medicare wages and tips fields, even if there is no change to the MQGE/Medicare wages and tips previously reported.

Show corrections for Social Security and Medicare (full-Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) wages, tips or taxes in the boxes labeled, "Social Security tax withheld," "Social Security wages," and "Social Security tips" only.

To show corrections for MQGE wages:

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  Paper reports—show changes in boxes labeled Medicare wages and tips and Medicare tax withheld and

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  Magnetic media reports—refer to MMREF-2 publication and contact your State’s Employer Service Liaison Officer (ESLO), if necessary.

If reporting MQGE wages for tax year 1986, report the wages under the IRS Federal Employment Identification Number (EIN). Do not use the 69-number.

For more information on filing corrected paper or electronic wage reports, or general information on employer wage reporting, visit SSA’s Employer W-2 Filing Instructions and Information. Several online guides are available to assist in resolving error conditions.