How to enable W-2 Online Access for employees?
550 views |Last modified 11/17/2023 8:03:00 AM EST | Added by TaxBandits Team

TaxBandits Online Access is an exclusive feature that allows employees to access their forms W-2 online through a secure portal. However,tThe employer has to enable this feature to give access to the employees for accessing their forms online.

In this article, we discuss how employers can give online access to employees to access their W2s securely. Basically, it can be done in 2 stages, namely:

                    i) When Form W-2 is being filed

                    ii) After the W-2 is transmitted to the IRS

Follow the below steps to enable Online Access while preparing the tax forms:

There are two ways to enable online access while preparing tax forms:

In the W-2 tax form, Provide all the necessary form details and enable the option "Select if you want to allow this recipient to access form W-2 Online" to grant Online Access and provide the Email ID. Click the Save & Continue button.

When Adding Employee details manually:

When you’re adding employee details manually, the option to enable online access will be available. Check the option, Select if you want to allow this employee to access Form W-2 Online. If it is enabled, employees can view and download their tax returns through an online portal.

Click the Save and Continue button.

When Adding Employees through Bulk Upload

1. Download the Excel/CSV template and fill the employee details in it.
2. Select Yes under the Online Access column in the Excel/CSV template for all the employees you want to enable online access. The employee’s email address is mandatory if you have enabled Online Access.   
3. Select No under the Online Access column for the employees you want to disable the online access.

       4. Upload the filled template and complete the subsequent steps to transmit the returns to the IRS.

After W-2 is transmitted to the IRS:

If you've opted for online access for employees when adding the Employer, and disabled it for selected individuals when filing, you can enable them again from the dashboard after the form is transmitted. Follow the instructions below to enable:

• Sign in to your TaxBandits account. 
• From the dashboard, click Distribution Center 
• Click  "1099/W2/1098/5498 Forms" under Online Access.

• Click Manage against the business for which you need to enable online access.

• All the employees under the business will be displayed. Select the employee's name and click Enable Online Access.

• Complete your payment order by providing payment details.

Once the returns are processed at the TaxBandits e-file system and transmitted to the IRS, a secure link will be triggered to the employee’s email. The employees can click that link and enter the last four digits of their SSN to access the forms.

Note: By enabling this option, the employees will have online access to all their forms that apply to them, including Form W-2.