cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
Announcements
Get unlimited expert tax help and powerful accounting in one place. Check out QuickBooks Online + Live Expert Tax.
tia95363
Level 1

W2's not printing correctly on preprinted forms

Using QB Desktop 2024

Using preprinted 2 per page W2's for 2024 

 

The W2 information does not print correctly.

 

The top info is prints ok, but the bottom is off by two lines.

 

Any body else having an issue?

 

Solved
Best answer January 09, 2025

Best Answers
FishingForAnswers
Level 10

W2's not printing correctly on preprinted forms

@tia95363  There's probably an alignment issue but, honestly, you'd be better off just printing on the blank forms instead, and that's assuming you don't just use regular paper instead.

 

Trusting in the preprinted form is just asking for trouble when Desktop is perfectly capable of simply printing the form and its contents onto the blank form wholesale.

View solution in original post

Jovelyn_M
QuickBooks Team

W2's not printing correctly on preprinted forms

I'll assist you on how to correct the alignment on your W2 form, @tia95363.

 

First, let’s check your printer settings to confirm they are correctly configured for the specific paper size you’re using. As @FishingForAnswers mentioned, ensuring that the paper type is compatible with your printer is essential. Using incorrect settings or incompatible paper can result in alignment issues during printing.

 

The next step is to perform a Print Head Alignment. This process ensures that the printer's print head is correctly positioned, leading to clean and precise print outputs. It involves adjusting the alignment of the print heads to achieve optimal print quality. Here’s how to do it:

 

  1. On your computer, select the Windows menu.
  2. In the search bar, type Control Panel.
  3. Open the Devices and Printers and right-click on your printer.
  4. Click Printing Preferences and look for an option to Align the Print Cartridges or Print Head Alignment.
  5. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the alignment process.

 

For further information, please refer to this article on how to troubleshoot problems when you can’t print, email, or save as a PDF from QuickBooks Desktop: Fix PDF and Print problems with QuickBooks Desktop.

 

Moreover, I'm adding this resource for your future reference in case you want to know how to get different QuickBooks Desktop tools to help fix problems and errors: Fix common problems and errors with the QuickBooks Desktop Tool Hub.

 

We’re here to assist you as you explore these options. If you have any additional questions or require support in printing the W2 form, don’t hesitate to reach out through this channel. Thank you for considering this collaboration; we look forward to helping you enhance your users' experience with QuickBooks.

View solution in original post

8 Comments 8
FishingForAnswers
Level 10

W2's not printing correctly on preprinted forms

@tia95363  There's probably an alignment issue but, honestly, you'd be better off just printing on the blank forms instead, and that's assuming you don't just use regular paper instead.

 

Trusting in the preprinted form is just asking for trouble when Desktop is perfectly capable of simply printing the form and its contents onto the blank form wholesale.

Jovelyn_M
QuickBooks Team

W2's not printing correctly on preprinted forms

I'll assist you on how to correct the alignment on your W2 form, @tia95363.

 

First, let’s check your printer settings to confirm they are correctly configured for the specific paper size you’re using. As @FishingForAnswers mentioned, ensuring that the paper type is compatible with your printer is essential. Using incorrect settings or incompatible paper can result in alignment issues during printing.

 

The next step is to perform a Print Head Alignment. This process ensures that the printer's print head is correctly positioned, leading to clean and precise print outputs. It involves adjusting the alignment of the print heads to achieve optimal print quality. Here’s how to do it:

 

  1. On your computer, select the Windows menu.
  2. In the search bar, type Control Panel.
  3. Open the Devices and Printers and right-click on your printer.
  4. Click Printing Preferences and look for an option to Align the Print Cartridges or Print Head Alignment.
  5. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the alignment process.

 

For further information, please refer to this article on how to troubleshoot problems when you can’t print, email, or save as a PDF from QuickBooks Desktop: Fix PDF and Print problems with QuickBooks Desktop.

 

Moreover, I'm adding this resource for your future reference in case you want to know how to get different QuickBooks Desktop tools to help fix problems and errors: Fix common problems and errors with the QuickBooks Desktop Tool Hub.

 

We’re here to assist you as you explore these options. If you have any additional questions or require support in printing the W2 form, don’t hesitate to reach out through this channel. Thank you for considering this collaboration; we look forward to helping you enhance your users' experience with QuickBooks.

Tracy Caisse
Level 1

W2's not printing correctly on preprinted forms

I am having the same problem.  The top form prints fine, but the bottom form is off.  What they suggested to do will not fix the problem - it would only work if both forms were off.

 

I have been trying to fix this W2 issue today and I also spent a half an hour getting an employee access into the system today because their system would not validate their login information.  I am really aggravated with EasyAcct and I will be looking for a different accounting software this year.

Doberdog
Level 1

W2's not printing correctly on preprinted forms

I too had the same problem.  I went to the Printer window and under “more settings” I changed “Fit to printable area” to “Actual size”.  It does work.

JFW1
Level 1

W2's not printing correctly on preprinted forms

I'm having a similar issue w/ preprinted forms but do not have the option in my printer settings to perform a Print Head Alignment.  My W2 test prints are low on the top half for boxes 1-14 but boxes 15-20 are good.  Bottom half has c, d, e are too high as well as boxes 1-20.  This shows that it's not a universal fit and is a major problem.  The Align options when preparing W2s are up/down/left/right for the whole page vs. top/bottom half so this doesn't help.  I really need some assistance to solve this asap.

AdonL
QuickBooks Team

W2's not printing correctly on preprinted forms

Welcome to the Community space, JFW1. I have some information about alignment issues when printing Pre-printed W2s in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) Payroll.

 

Pre-printed papers purchased from Intuit when printing W2s should work perfectly. However, non-intuit papers need to be aligned first to avoid printing issues. To do so, you can follow the steps below.

 

First, ensure you're using a supported Adobe PDF reader and that your printer drivers are updated. Next, verify that you are printing from Adobe PDF. If needed, set the default programs to open PDF files with Adobe. You can refer to these resources for the complete process:

 

 

If the problem continues, you can adjust the print alignment of continuous-feed printers with QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT). This way, your forms print the way you want. But before doing so, ensure your printer is on and connected to your computer. Also, the forms you need to print are in the printer’s paper feed.

 

Furthermore, I suggest contacting our QBDT Live Support Team if the issue persists after performing the suggestions above. They will investigate the problem and find an appropriate solution.

 

Finally, here's an article you can refer to later when wrapping up your year-end tasks: The year-end checklist for QBDT Payroll.

 

Proper alignment guarantees that all information on printed W-2 forms is visible and legible. We can always provide information about payroll-related tasks in QBDT. Should you need further clarification, leave a comment below. This forum is always here for you whenever you need it.

Tracy Caisse
Level 1

W2's not printing correctly on preprinted forms

This works if the forms is generally not lining up, but everyone from Intuit is ignoring that this is not the issue that everyone is complaining about.  This is specific to the preprinted W2 forms that have to be sent into Social Security admin on the red lined forms.  The top W2 lines up correctly, but the bottom W2 is too high by at least 2 lines.

 

I already made the adjustments that you suggested, which will fix the aligning of the top W2.  It does not fix the problem with the bottom W2 not being lined up because there is no way to add additional lines between the W2s.  I have included a scan of the test pattern on the red lined W2.

 

I finally received a response on Friday 1/17 from my complaint about this very issue, and was told that it will be addressed in a future update, and the response also said that the date of the update is undetermined.  Which means we have no help to meet the Jan 31st deadline.  In my opinion, this is totally unacceptable customer service for a problem that the company has been aware of.

BigRedConsulting
Community Champion

W2's not printing correctly on preprinted forms

RE: This is specific to the preprinted W2 forms that have to be sent into Social Security admin on the red lined forms. The top W2 lines up correctly, but the bottom W2 is too high by at least 2 lines.

 

You don't have to use the red drop out ink forms to file with the SSA. That's a myth. QuickBooks prints @w-2's on plain paper ready to file. Intuit and some of the big payroll companies lobbied the SSA for this standard 25 years ago or so.

 

Also, several other threads about this alignment issue seemed to be solved when the user installed the free Adobe Acrobat Reader and in doing so made it their default PDF program.  It seems the general issue is that other readers scale the W-2 image down to what they think will fix on the printed page - and while Adobe can do that, it doesn't for some reason based on the way the PDF is coded.

Log in today
Get expert help and peer support to tackle all your QuickBooks questions effortlessly.

Need to get in touch?

Contact us
Sign in for the best experience
Ask questions, get answers, and join our large community of QuickBooks users.
Sign In / Sign Up