Hello there, @insinu8.
If you have Automate taxes and forms enabled, QuickBooks handles the filing and payment for you. To prevent accidental duplicate filings with the government, the system applies a watermark to your W-2s during the review stage. This watermark remains until the forms are officially processed and finalized by QuickBooks.
Here are the reasons why you have this watermark:
- Forms haven't been filed yet/are still in preview/draft status.
- Forms are still being processed.
- To prevent filing draft copies.
Starting January 15, the final forms or the clean copies (without watermarks) will be available for viewing and printing W-2s for accounts with automation on.
See this article to find out when your W-2s are filed, sent to employees, and available for viewing and printing based on your specific QuickBooks Payroll service and settings: Understand the timing for your W-2s.
Also, you can review this article for the taxes and forms guidelines you need to get done for payroll at the end of the calendar year: Year-end checklist for QuickBooks Online Payroll.
Feel encouraged to comeback here in the Community forum if you have any other questions or concerns.
