The IRS charges per W-2, not per business. Penalties start at $60 per form and climb to $680+ for intentional disregard — and they stack with the separate failure-to-furnish penalty for not delivering copies to employees. Here is the full tiered schedule.
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Tax year 2025 W-2s (due February 2, 2026). Per-form amounts from IRS Information Return Penalties.
| How late | Per W-2 | Annual cap (small biz) | Annual cap (large biz) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Filed 1–30 days late By March 4, 2026 | $60 | $232,500 | $664,500 |
| Filed 31 days late to August 1 | $130 | $664,500 | $1,993,500 |
| Filed after August 1, 2026 or not filed | $330 | $1,329,000 | $3,987,000 |
| Intentional disregard Minimum — IRS can assess higher | $680+ | No cap | No cap |
Source: IRS Information Return Penalties (tax year 2025 figures). Small business = average gross receipts of $5 million or less over the last three tax years.
The IRS charges two separate penalties for a late W-2 — both apply to the same form. Under Internal Revenue Code §6721, you pay for filing copy A with the Social Security Administration late. Under §6722, you pay a matching amount for failing to furnish copies B, C, and 2 to your employees. The rates are the same, but they are assessed independently.
In practice, a W-2 that is 60 days late to both the SSA and the employee costs $130 + $130 = $260 per form, not $130. For a 25-employee company, that is $6,500 for one calendar miss.
Combined §6721 + §6722 penalties by headcount and lateness.
| Headcount | 1–30 days late | 31 days to Aug 1 | After Aug 1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 employees | $600 | $1,300 | $3,300 |
| 10 employees | $1,200 | $2,600 | $6,600 |
| 25 employees | $3,000 | $6,500 | $16,500 |
| 50 employees | $6,000 | $13,000 | $33,000 |
| 100 employees | $12,000 | $26,000 | $66,000 |
Assumes both the SSA copy and the employee copies are filed/furnished late. Amounts double the base §6721 rate because §6722 applies in parallel.
If you miss the W-2 deadline for a reason outside your control, you can request abatement under the reasonable-cause standard. You have to show two things: the failure was caused by circumstances beyond your control, and you acted in a responsible manner to correct it as soon as possible.
Typical grounds the IRS has accepted: natural disasters, serious illness of the person responsible for filing, destruction of records in a fire or flood, and inability to obtain records from a third party despite reasonable efforts. Grounds the IRS has rejected: forgetting the deadline, relying on an accountant who forgot, or being "too busy."
First-time penalty abatement — the one-time courtesy relief the IRS offers for many tax penalties — does not apply to W-2 or other information return penalties. Your only path is reasonable cause.
If you know you will not make January 31, you can request a 30-day extension to file with the SSA by submitting Form 8809 before the deadline. The extension is not automatic for W-2s — you must request it, state a reason, and the IRS can deny it. Disasters and serious illness are accepted reasons; routine overload is not.
A separate extension is needed to delay furnishing W-2 copies to employees, and that request has stricter criteria. Filing Form 8809 before January 31 is far cheaper than filing W-2s 30 days late without it.
If you prefer not to think about Form 8809 at all, the easier path is a reminder that lands a week before the deadline. See the main W-2 filing reminder page to set one up in 30 seconds.
For tax year 2025 forms (filed in 2026), the IRS charges $60 per W-2 filed within 30 days after the deadline, $130 per W-2 filed between 31 days late and August 1, and $330 per W-2 filed after August 1 or not at all. Intentional disregard carries a minimum $680 per W-2 with no annual cap.
Per form. Each late W-2 is assessed its own penalty, which means the cost scales directly with your headcount. A 20-employee company filing one month late owes 20 × $60 = $1,200. The same company waiting until after August 1 owes 20 × $330 = $6,600.
Yes, for non-willful lateness the IRS applies annual caps that depend on business size. For tax year 2025 the cap is roughly $232,500 for small businesses (average gross receipts of $5 million or less over the last three years) and $697,000 for larger businesses. Intentional disregard has no cap.
Effectively yes. The IRS assesses the Information Return penalty for late filing under IRC §6721, and a matching Failure to Furnish penalty under §6722 if employees do not receive their copies on time. The SSA does not issue a separate monetary penalty for late W-2 filing itself, but late or missing W-2s can trigger IRS audits of your Form 941 reconciliation.
Yes, through reasonable-cause relief. You must show the failure was due to circumstances beyond your control and that you acted in a responsible manner. Typical grounds include natural disasters, serious illness, or records destroyed in a fire. First-time abatement does not apply to information return penalties like those on W-2s.
Yes. Penalties scale with lateness — filing within 30 days late costs $60 per form, versus $330 per form if you never file (or file after August 1). For 25 employees, that is $1,500 vs $8,250. If you have already missed the date, file as soon as you can to stop the penalty from rising.
Set a W-2 filing reminder — advance emails land 7, 3, and 1 days before January 31 every year. Far cheaper than $60–$680 per form.
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