IRS requirements for W-2s do NOT mandate PERFORATED forms - correct?

However, the language Intuit uses in their "help" articles on printing W-2s include these two points - neither of which I can find supported by IRS code:

1) The topic above - no need for perforated paper if you cut them yourself.

2. Quickbook's "Instructions for Filing Form W-2 and W-3"  (at least on my QB Enterprise Desktop version) says (bold text to emphasize): "Important:  Do NOT cut or separate any employee copies of Form W-2."  

My theory is that this statement (Intuit includes it every year) is probably an error - and was initially referring to the Copy A only.    What do you think?

Hello, @MoBr.

Thanks for reaching out to the Community. I’m here to share a few details about printing W-2s.

@BRC is correct. The IRS requires that the W-2 Form copies you provide your employees are easy to separate or already separated. 

You may refer to this article for additional information: Types of paper available for printing W-2 forms.

I’d also recommend contacting IRS for clarifications related to this concern. They can give you advice on how to file your forms.

That’s it. Please post again in the Community if you need further assistance with QuickBooks. I’ll be here to help. Have a good one!

Thanks KhimG  - I don't need clarification from the IRS (their publications are easy to follow)  - but  I think QB needs clarification!   Again, its confusing when the QB instructions state "Important:  Do not separate forms" - and they don't clarify that it's the Copy A that can't be separated.    All other W-2 forms can be separated.

Hi there, @MoBr. 

Thank you for posting in the Community. I'd be happy to help get this taken care of today.

To ensure that I'm on the same page, are you seeing these instructions in a QuickBooks article? If so, could you please share the link of the article and I will send it to the Product Development team for corrections.

We take our customer ideas into consideration when looking for product improvements as well as information in our articles, which serves as a great resource for managing your account. I recommend you share your thoughts and suggestions to our product development team for future updates. 

Sending your feedback will help us not only improve the product, but also will help us know what works best for you. To send them, from the Help menu, choose to Send Feedback Online then select Help System Suggestion. 

That should point you in the right direction today.

I'm just a few clicks away if you have any other questions about printing W-2 form. I'll be happy to help you out. Wishing you and your business success. 

MaryGrace:  I completely forgot about this post - but googled it again this year because, yet again, Intuit's Quickbook Enterprise Desktop says ""do not cut or separate any employee copies of Form W-2" .  (See attached file).  

This is where I find it:

QB Enterprise 2020 Desktop (newest ver):  Employee / Payroll Tax Forms and W-2s / Select W-2s

Clicked "Print for your records".  

Selected "Employer filing instructions for W-2 and W-3"  

THIS NEEDS TO BE CHANGED BY INTUIT.  :)

Thanks for getting back to this post, @MoBr.

I appreciate you for sharing the file with us, your feedback will help to stay in tune with what our customers need, want, and expect in this time of tax season. Rest assured, I'll take note of your suggestion, and they'll be able to review and put this to work.

For now, I'd encourage you to visit our QuickBooks Blog, so you'll be updated with our latest news and updates including product improvements. Just go to https://quickbooks.intuit.com/blog/.

 I've also added these articles that will help you file and print your W-2 forms. Just select QuickBooks Desktop as your product:

• File your W-2 forms
• Print your W-2 forms

Keep me posted if you have other questions or concerns. I'm more than happy to assist you. Take care and have a great day ahead.

Whatever happened to the follow-up or solution to this post. I just printed the Instructions for Filing Forms W-2 and W-3 from QB and they still state under Step 2 ""do not cut or separate any employee copies of Form W-2"

Should they or should they not be separated???

Glad to see you here in the thread, @manikomio. I'll gladly provide clarifications about the instructions when printing W-2 and W-3.

Please know that when printing W-2 forms, each of your employees should have a Copy B, C, and 2. That said, all three copies should be present on one piece of paper, printed and provided to each of your workers. Only the W-3 is prepared separately from W-2 since it's intended for you as the employer to keep.

For more information about printing these forms, please see this helpful article: Print your W-2 and W-3 forms.

In addition, I've got you this article in case you'd like to invite your employees to view their W-2s using workforce: Invite your employees to QuickBooks Workforce to see pay stubs and W-2s if you use QuickBooks Deskto....

You can also check this page for further guidelines: Year-end guide for QuickBooks Online.

@manikomio, It was a pleasure to have you in the Community today. Feel free to post here again if you have any additional QuickBooks-related concerns. Take care, and have a nice day!

are you saying three copies B, C, 2 on one piece of paper if the paper is perforated paper which can be easily separated? what if it's just on regular paper? sounds like if regular paper they should be separated and cut for the employees. Agree?

Hi manikomio,

Yes, copies should be separated. However, please note that we recommend perforated papers so you can easily separate the forms.

Please refer to this IRS article: General Rules and Specifications for Substitute Forms W-2 and W-3. Find (Ctrl+F or Command-F) the word "perforat" (perforations) to see the sections that have instructions about it.

If you have other questions in mind, feel free to go back to this thread.