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Statements of Earnings for Employees


1411. Statements of Earnings for Employees

1411.1 What items are shown on a statement of earnings?

Every employer subject to Social Security taxes must provide written statements of earnings to employees. Treasury Form W-2 (Wage and Tax Statement) is generally used for this purpose. The statement must show:

  1. The name, address, and identification number of the employer;

  2. The name, address, and Social Security number of the employee;

  3. The total amount of wages (including tips reported to the employer by the employee) subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes which were paid to the employee during the calendar year;

  4. The amount of the Social Security and Medicare taxes deducted from the employee's wages;

  5. The total amount of tips reported to the employer which is subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes; and

  6. The amount of the Social Security and Medicare taxes, if any, the employee still owes on tips reported to the employer.

1411.2 When are statements provided to employees?

These statements must be given to employees as follows:

  1. No later than January 31 following the calendar year in which the wages were paid; or

  2. An employee who stops working before the end of a year and does not expect to return to work that year may ask the employer for an earlier statement. The statement must be furnished by the latest of the following:

    1. 30 days after the date of the employee's request;

    2. 30 days after the last wages were paid; or

    3. 30 days after the death of the worker, in which case the statement is sent to the next of kin as well as to IRS.

Last Revised: March, 2001



There are 6 Comments

We are attempting to send the ( wage & earning ) statement, and can-not get through. We do not have a fax machine that will continue to re-try until it gets through. This makes it hard to get the required (information) through. We live some distance from the Albuquerque Office.
V/R John E. S
(575) nnn-xxxx

I have tried to get my earnings statement ONLINE and get a response that they
"have tried to verify your information three time and account is suspended"

I know my own information - I am checking the correct boxes.

Social Security must have some wrong information on my records (or id theft???? .) Whichever - I cannot get anyone on the phone to understand what I am talking about. They keep thinking I am applying for benefits and I'm not I just want my earnings statement.

How do I get someone to look into this?


I assume you're talking about a series of four questions which they ask you to verify your identity. I believe they obtain the questions and answers from Experian.

I agree some of the questions can be difficult. I was asked, "Which year did you open XYZ credit card?" I opened it many years ago, but I must have guessed the correct answer of 1998 (not 1996 or 2000).

It sounds like you're now locked out. Some of these lock-out times expire after a period of time - 30 minutes to three days. You may want to try later.

The online statement process is relatively new, and I suspect many SSA employees have not used it. When calling, I'd suggest saying, "I have a problem with signing up on the SSA website" and see if you can get directed to a web specialist.


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