- quote -

.....And just how are you going to do that when he has moved
and left no forwarding address?

[Remember that the sub-thread I responded to addressed that
of a former employee that one no longer has contact
with....]

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Larry Mitchell, E.A. <larryamitchell[at]hotmail.com> wrote:

- quote -

That says that mailing is _one way_ to meet the requirement.

My employer handed me my W-2 in January; are you claiming
that he didn't meet the requirement because he didn't mail
it instead?

Seth

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D. Stussy <kd6lvw[at]kd6lvw.ampr.org> wrote:
- quote -

But the requirement isn't to "have it available", it's to
"furnish it to the employee".

Seth

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jik[at]kamens.brookline.ma.us (Jonathan Kamens) wrote:

- quote -

Following is an excerpt from the instructions for Form W-2:

"Furnishing Copies B, C and 2 to employees. Furnish copies
B, C, and 2 of Form W-2 to your employees, generally by
February 2, 2004. You will meet the 'furnish' requirement
if the form is properly addressed and mailed on or before
the due date."

It certainly appears to use the word "mailed". Therefore
requiring the taxpayer to spend 37 cents for each employee.

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I agree that the IRS permits employers to make W-2's
available for pick-up by employees who report to work at the
same location as the W-2's between when the W-2's are issued
and January 31, as long as those employees are notified of
how and where to pick up their W-2's. In other words, a
central distribution point for people in a building is
acceptable -- the IRS does not actually require someone to
walk around the building delivering the W-2's to each
individual.

The question then, is what the IRS requirement is for
employees who do *not* report to work at the same location
as the W-2's between when they are issued and January 31.
The revenue ruling I cited clearly indicates that in this
situation, regardless of whether the employee is expected to
return to work after January 31, the employer is obligated
to make a reasonable effort to get the W-2 into the
employee's hands by January 31. Mailing it by January 31 is
one accepted way to do that, but not the only one.

Merely making the document available for pick-up by an
employee who won't be there to pick it up is not acceptable.
Anyone who claims that it is, is simply wrong.

I simply can't understand why anyone would continue to
advocate for this position after reading the revenue ruling
I cited. I've had enough of banging my head against this
particular wall, so this is my last word on the topic.

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Harlan Lunsford wrote:
- quote -

Mailing it to "general delivery, <city> ", although it won't
go through and will be returned to you (assuming that it
isn't actually delivered!) will constitute timestamped proof
that you did "have it available" by the due date.....

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- quote -

The latter paragraph speaks only of an employee not expected
to still be coming by the place of business to pick the W-2
up. It does not contemplate continued employment.

If IRS *required* employers to mail out W-2's, there would
be something more substantial in the publications than use
of the generic word "furnish".

Cheer$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA

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- quote -

I was trying to be polite, but since that seems to have
confused you, I'll be more direct. The IRS documents are
clear. You are wrong.

- quote -

Revenue ruling 55-145 explicitly rejects your assertion that
making the statement available for pickup "without making an
effort to deliver it to the employee" is sufficient. See
http://www.taxlinks.com/rulings/1955/revrul55-145.htm.
"The mere preparation of the Form W-2 by the employer and
holding it at his place of business until the employee calls
for it are not sufficient compliance with the law and
regulations."

Can you cite a later revenue ruling which contradicts this one?

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Jonathan Kamens wrote:
- quote -

SEEM to say? I rest my case.

Really simple. there is nothing I can find anywhere that
says an employer MUST use the US mail to furnish the W-2 to
the employee. As you noted, that is one way, and one many
use.

If anyone else can point to an actual mailing *requirement*,
I'd be thrilled to know about it.

Cheer$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA

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Harlan Lunsford <lunstax[at]bellsouth.net> writes:

- quote -

As I said before, I don't think that's correct. I've
already quoted IRS documents which state explicitly that the
employer is obligated to furnish the W4 to the employee, not
merely to make it available for him to pick up. You haven't
responded to that posting; how do you reconcile your
position with IRS documents which seem to say the opposite?

In addition to the excerpts I posted before, here is another
excerpt, from the 2004 Form W2 instructions: "Furnish Copies
B, C, and 2 of Form W-2 to your employees, generally, by
January 31, 2005. You will meet the "furnish" requirement if
the form is properly addressed and mailed on or before the
due date."

I've seen it stated here numerous times that if the employer
cannot put the W2 in the employee's hand, it is sufficient
for the employer to mail the W2 such that it is postmarked
January 31 or earlier. However, I've never seen it claimed
by anyone besides you that it is sufficient merely to have
the W4 available for pick-up, and I don't think it is.

Here are links to previous articles in this newsgroup,
several of which were posted by prominent readers of the
group who are far more knowledgeable than I am, claiming
that the employer is obligated to put the W4 in the mail
(some of these actually refer to 1099's, not W2's, but I
believe the rule is the same for both):

http://groups.google.com/groups?selm...&output=gplain
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm...&output=gplain
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm...&output=gplain
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm...&output=gplain
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm...&output=gplain
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm...&output=gplain

The case of an employer who cannot furnish a W2 to a former
employee because the employee left no address is an
interesting boundary case. On the one hand, I doubt the IRS
wants to penalize an employer for making a good-faith effort
to furnish all required W2's, but on the other hand, I
believe that the employer was *required* to get a valid W4
with an address from the employee before paying wages, so it
seems to me that if the employer failed to do that, the
employer is at least partially at fault for now being unable
to even mail the W2 to the last known address for the
employee (i.e., that would have been the address on the W4,
if the employer had gotten one from the employee).

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- quote -

And if it comes back, save it (in the unopened envelope) in
the case that it's somehow contested later that you never
TRIED to mail it.

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- quote -

But of course the employer is under no compunction, legal or
otherwise, to spend 37 cents on a stamp. All that is
requried is to be made available.

Cheer$,
Harlan Lunsford

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- quote -

Gave no address to start with. When given the W4 form, she
said she would have to check her address and get back with
them. Never showed back up.

Carol
What can one expect of a day that begins with getting out of bed.

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- quote -

Mail to last known address is all you can do.

__
Art Kamlet ArtKamlet [at] AOL.com Columbus OH K2PZH

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- quote -

We have a client who would have great difficulty in doing
this for one of their employees. The employee apparently is
in jail--somewhere. Lived alone and apparently left no
forwarding address.

Carol
What can one expect of a day that begins with getting out of bed.

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Harlan Lunsford <lunstax[at]bellsouth.net> writes:

- quote -

The IRS seems to disagree with you.
http://www.irs.gov/faqs/faq-kw244.html says that the
employer "must provide employess with a Form W-2 by January
31." Publication 15 says that the employer must "furnish
each employee a completed Form W-2" by January 31.

The language in these two documents does not seem to agree
with your assertion that they only have to make them
available; the language seems to agree with what my
understanding has always been, i.e., that the employer must
deliver it directly to the employee or mail it by January
31.

But of course, as we've discussed numerous times in this
newsgroup, it's not like the IRS tries very hard to enforce
this requirement. Businesses don't tend to get in trouble
for delivering W-2's a bit late as long as it's only a bit
late.

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"Read" <read.tull[at]att.net> wrote:

- quote -

Jan. 31st.

Missy

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Read wrote:

- quote -

There IS no deadline for employers to mail out said
documents.

Contrary to public opinion, payor do not have to mail the
docs, merely to have them available for pickup at place of
business.

And they must have them "available" by January 31st.

Cheer$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA

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- quote -

Don't know about a deadline to "mail out" W2s and 1099s but
the forms are supposed to be available to the recipient on
January 31.

Carol
What can one expect of a day that begins with getting out of bed.

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Read wrote:

- quote -

The recipient copy is normally due by January 31, which I
believe is extended to February 2. The IRS/SSA copies are
due by February 28(!), extended to March 1 this year.

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