W-2 Processing

Carefully review the IRS instructions for Form W-2. If you never filed W-2s before, stop here and read the IRS instructions before continuing any further.

Responsibility for filing correct W-2s rests with the employer, and Deltek assumes no liability for the advisement regarding IRS policies and requirements.

The W-2s are created and printed using the Employee Earnings table, which you can access on the Manage Employee Earnings History screen. The Employee Earnings table is updated whenever you post the Payroll Journal and contains a record for each paycheck issued to each employee. On the Employee Earnings table, all records are added to obtain the W-2 information.

Costpoint also uses the Deduction Code table (the Manage Deductions screen), the Federal Tax Information table (the Manage Federal Taxes screen), the State Tax Information table (the Manage State Taxes screen), and the Local Tax Information table (the Manage Local Taxes screen) for creating and printing the W-2s. Review the Deduction Codes for 401(k) deductions, 403(b) deductions, Group Life Insurance, and Dependent Care Benefits to ensure that the deduction type(s) and limit(s) are set correctly. Also verify that the federal, state, and local taxability for each deduction is reviewed for the correct input for 401(k) and Cafeteria plans (Section 125). Review the Local Tax tables to ensure that any State Disability Insurance is set up correctly with YTD Tax as the Tax Based On method.

Use the Manage W-2s screen before printing W-2s and creating the W2REPORT file (magnetic media) for submission to the Social Security Administration (SSA). Entries made through this screen into the W-2 table override company-wide specifications made for various fields that are generated when creating the W-2 print file or the W2REPORT file.

The W-2 process consists of validating the year-to-date earnings, creating the W-2 table, editing W-2s if necessary, printing W-2s, and creating magnetic media W-2 files.

The IRS requires that W-2s be given to employees no later than January 31 and filed with the Social Security Administration by February 28. You can print and edit W-2s before or after closing the payroll year.

If you are using the Close Payroll Year function, you must close the payroll year after your last payroll for the current calendar year is posted and before the first payroll of the new calendar year is created ("payroll" meaning paychecks, not necessarily timesheets).

You can edit the Prior Year Earnings table, accessible through the Manage Employee Earnings History screen, after closing the payroll year. You can also print quarterly reports, state unemployment reports, state and local withholding reports, and the Earnings Report after the payroll year is closed.