Why can't my employees view their w2s?

Hello afrinnell,

Currently, we have an ongoing issue when pulling up employee's W2s. Our engineers are aware and already working to fix this. I'd recommend contacting our Payroll Support Team. They'll add your profile the list of affected users and keep you up to date about the issue.

As an employer, you can email/print your employees a copy of their W2s. Here's how:

1. Select Taxes on the left menu and go to the Payroll Tax tab.
2. Under the Forms section, click the Annual Forms hyperlink.
3. Under Annual Tax Forms, select an employee or All Employees.
4. Click W-2, Copies B,C & 2.
5. Click the View button and download the previewed W2 forms.
6. Print or Email it to your employees.

I'd appreciate your patience as we work for a fix. Thanks!

The Annual Forms hyperlink doesn't exist. As well it may be too early but the general 2018 heading doesn't exist the way the 2017 heading does. This solution isn't viable.

I saw the previous reply but I didn't know if that reply was current as I didn't see a date on it.  Has this been fixed so that employees can access their own W2's?

Has this issue been fixed?

Hello there, @jlswaitecpa.

If you’re referring to the previous concern about the Annual Forms hyperlink that doesn’t show up, it was already resolved. And we haven’t received any report concerning this again.

You can view and access these forms in the Payroll Tax Center. Here’s how:

1. Go to Taxes.
2. Choose Payroll Tax.
3. Under Forms, select which you’d like to view, print or download.

You can check this article for additional information about forms and payments: Access payroll tax forms and tax payments.

If you mean something else, you can tell me so I can check here in my end. Any additional information would be greatly appreciated.

Let me share this article that helps organize your payroll in QuickBooks: Help articles.

It'll be my pleasure to assist if you need more help.

It's Jan 2021 and We can't download the W2's or view them. WHY?

Hello there, Jam613.

If you're an employee and you're unable to view your W-2s, we have an investigation and our engineers are currently working on a permanent fix to this issue. I'd suggest contacting your employer and ask for a copy. 

On the other hand, if you're the employer and can't view the form, you can try performing a few browser-troubleshooting steps. Stored cache files might have caused the unusual response. Try logging in to QuickBooks Online using a private browser. 

• Google Chrome: Ctrl + Shift + N
• Mozilla Firefox: Ctrl + Shift + P
• Safari: Command + Option + P

Then, you can follow these steps on how to access your Form W-2. 

1. From the Taxes menu, select Payroll Tax.
2. In the Forms section, select Annual Forms.
3. Select either All Employees or a specific employee name from the dropdown.
4. Click W-2, Copies B, C & 2 and select the appropriate filing period from the dropdown.
5. Select View and click the print icon. Then, select Print again.

If you're able to do so, you can clear the browser's cache to refresh the system. You can also use other browsers to isolate these kinds of issues. 

Keep me posted on how this works. I'd be more glad to help. Take care and have a great day!

Some of our employees can see their W2s, others can only see their paystubs but not their W2s.  Can anyone tell me how to fix this?

I also cannot see any W-2s in my admin side or on the employee side. I've gone in through a private browser as stated above. When I go to Taxes > Payroll Tax I don't have an option for "Forms". All I can see is "Payments" and "Filings". If I click on "Filings" it is blank. If I click on Archived Filings it is also blank.

Hi there, @jcadysmom, @dfmight.

Thanks for following the actions presented above, @dfmight. I'm here to share some resolutions about W-2 in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

As my colleague mentioned overhead, we have an open investigation with an employee and employer unable to access W-2 forms. Please communicate with our support to add your company to the list of affected users. 

Here's how: 

1. Go to the Help menu, then choose Contact Us. 
2. Type your concern in the box, then hit Let's talk. 
3. Choose either Start a chat or Get a callback. 
4. Complete the required data and submit the request. 

Once resolved, a message will broadcast to your saved email in QBO. Also, ensure to contact them within business hours to cater to your concern immediately. 

Our engineering team provides temporary troubleshooting steps to isolate the problem. 

First, let's go to the Gear icon, then choose Payroll Settings. In a section titled Shared Data, hit Edit, and check the box, Allow employees to import W-2 data into TurboTax. 

After that, let your employees and you re-open the form to verify if it's already functioning well. 

If the issue persists, I'd suggest to let your employee do essential troubleshooting to get rid of the issue. They can follow the steps presented by Catherine_B. 

If still no progress, I'd recommend printing or emailing the said form to your employees. You can follow the JamesDuanT steps above. 

To @dfmight since your unable to get the form, I'd advise you to ask for a W-2 copy for our support. Then email it to your employees. 

I've attached some pages about handling W-2 forms and other related matters.
 

• Get answers to your W-2 questions
• Reports and info about W-2 and W-3 forms
• W2 form boxes explained

• Workers and employees

Let me know in the comment section how the action goes. Thanks for your patience as we work for a fix. Keep safe!

Sorry for not stating this in my email I'm not using QBO.  I'm using QB Desktop Premier.

I'm not sure if it matters, but the employee who is having trouble seeing her W2 was not orginally invited to access her info online.  I've now invited her and she's registered.  She can see her paystubs, but gets a "not ready" message for her W2.  

Is that part of the "know problems" that QB is working on?

Thanks for the quick response, @jcadysmom.

I appreciate you for clarifying the version you use. I'll share some information about employees unable to view W-2 forms. 

Yes, it doesn't matter since both employees are opening the same website, which the Workforce. Our engineering is tirelessly working on this to get this resolved as soon as possible. 

Please contact our support to add your company to the list of affected users. Let me guide you how: 

1. Go to this link: https://help.quickbooks.intuit.com/prechats/offerings/QB-Desktop-ProPremier-CHAT/22240/view.
2. Complete the necessary information. 
3. Hit Submit. 

I've also added some articles about maintaining your tax forms, reports, W-2s, and other relevant topics. 

• How to reprint or replace employee W-2 forms
• Taxes

Don't hesitate to leave a comment below if you have follow-up questions. I'm glad to help. 

Annual Forms isn't available. What to do now to find the W2s?

There is still not an "Annual Forms"

This is what appears:

Oct - Dec 2020 (Q4)

Filed forms for this quarter will be available by Feb 15.

Filed annual forms for 2020 will be available by Feb 15.

Does this mean we will not be receiving the W2s until Feb 15th?

Thank you for your help!

Hello there, @savbloom, @savTAL.

As mentioned by my colleagues in this thread, we have an open investigation in which employees can't view their W2's. If you haven't contacted our Phone Support team yet, I'd suggest getting in touch with them. They can add you to the list of our affected users. 

For your convenience, you can provide this investigation number: INV-53248. This way, our product engineers assigned to this investigation will send out an email update, as soon as it's available.

You can also follow the recommendations shared by my  

colleagues Catherine_B and MichelleBh on how to access your form and how to contact our support team.

Regarding your concern @savTAL, we don't have a specific date when this be available. For now, you can run a payroll summary report to show the paycheck you've created in that specific period. For additional reference, you can check this article: Run a payroll summary report.

Also, I'm adding these articles that will guide you on how to file them and fix mistakes with your W-2s:

•  W-2 General forms and filing information
• When will my W-2s be ready?

I'll be around if you need additional payroll assistance or any QuickBooks related. I'd be happy to help.

Any update on this problem with not viewing W2's online at Workforce? We can see checks but no  W2's. This has been negatively affecting us for 2-3 years now and from what I can tell a lot of other people here. I saw a post that said you guys started investigating as far back as 2018....Any idea when this will be resolved?

Hello, @klundyacct1122.

I understand the impact of any delay in resolving this recurring issue with letting your employees view their W2's via QuickBooks Workforce. Currently, our product engineers are still working on releasing an update to rectify this concern.

As of now, I can't provide an exact turn around time on when this will be resolved. Rest assured, you'd be notified through an email once updates are available.

In the meantime, you'd want to make sure that you'd want to let your employees try accessing and viewing their W2 using a private or incognito window. Oftentimes, the stored data of their regular browser becomes overwhelmed which potentially affects your browser's performance when navigating in QuickBooks. This mode doesn't use the existing cache data and helps us confirm browser-related issues. Here's how:

• For Google Chrome browser: Ctrl + Shift + N
• For Mozilla Firefox browser: Ctrl + Shift + P
• For Safari browser: Command + Option + P

If it works, you'd want to clear the cache of your regular browser to delete those temporarily stored files and browsing history. Also, you can use other supported, up-to-date browsers to roll out the possibility of a browser-related issue.

On the other hand, I'd recommend contacting our Customer Care team for QuickBooks Workforce so you'd be added to the affected list. Just provide your full name, updated email address, list of affected employees and this investigation number: INV-53248.

1. Go to this link: https://help.quickbooks.intuit.com/prechats/offerings/QB-Desktop-ProPremier-CHAT/22240/view.
2. Enter the necessary information. 
3. Hit Submit. 

We appreciate your patience while we are working on this ongoing issue. Feel free to get back to us here if you have other questions or concerns. I'm always here to help.

Hi jdesnique,

If your previous employer was able to file the forms, we'll have to reach out to the Social Security Administration (SSA) to get your W2 information.

If they wasn't able to file, we'll have to reach out to them so you'll be provided with your W2 information.

You can share these links with your employer on how they can generate your wages and benefits:

• Year-end report: Employee wages and benefits
• Get answers to your W-2 questions
• File your W-2 forms

I'm just a post-away if there's anything that I can help. Keep safe!

Hello, jdesnique. 

If it's already filed, I suggest reaching out directly to the Social Security Administration (SSA) to get your W2 data and check with your year end wages. 

You can refer to these articles about year end guidelines: 

• QuickBooks Online year-end guide and checklist. 
• Common year-end questions and answers. 
• Year-end report: Employee wages and benefits. 

Feel free to reach out to us if you have other concerns. We're open 24/7. Stay safe!

After being bewildered with this issue for some of our employees, but not all, for a couple of years now, I was able to solve this problem for us.

Apparently when you are creating an employee, QuickBooks suggests you add a special character to your employee name to differentiate them from vendors and customers easily.  So at the beginning of our company life I did that for myself and the other employees.  After years go by, I didn't do that anymore so the more recent employees didn't get this special character "{e}".

When the support guy Myko (I spent over two hours a week previously trying to get an answer) asked me to remove these special characters from the employee names I was certain he was completely nuts. (He had me on hold several times before, we were going on 30 minutes, and I just figured he was grasping at stupid straws)  But I did it anyways and checked for my W2 so I could tell him that he was crazy.  I was in shock because there was my glorious W2!!!

I hope this helps someone out there.  Some employees are adamant about getting that W2 online!!

Still getting Your w-2 isn't ready yet when checking online via the workforce portal. Using desktop 2021 premier. Any ideas?