(Published March 2, 2009)
It's that time of year. Employees are calling asking for duplicate copies of their W-2s. My state has a double whammy, since we also need a tax form showing that we have health insurance.
Where I am currently contracted, I am able to dispose of employees' requests for these forms fairly quickly. I can refer requests for W-2s to Payroll, and it is the responsibility of the health insurance carrier to send out the health insurance form (known as a 1099-HC); at worst, I need to look up the insurance plan the employee is covered under and give them the phone number to Member Services.
But I've also worked for companies where Human Resources (and, thus, I) had the W-2 responsibility. The worst case was the time our payroll service (which shall remain nameless) completely omitted one of our former employees from the W-2 run. I won't go into all the ins and outs of how they attempted to make it my fault that they left her off the run or all the trouble we went through trying to get a replacement run that included her. Suffice it to say that in mid-February, they finally provided me with the appropriate numbers, and I typed the thing myself. Thankfully, the employee was more interested in getting her tax form than she was in calling the IRS, and we dodged that bullet.
Of course, we all have our share of employees who moved and didn't leave a forwarding address, assuming that we had some way of divining where to send the W-2 without being told. There are also always some who manage to misplace it and need a replacement sent. This is not always limited to the current year; I've had employees looking for duplicate W-2s from three tax years back!
Personally, I would charge employees a nominal fee for duplicate W-2s for previous years, but not for ones for the current year that were returned to me for a bad address. You might be inclined to charge for both, or neither. There's no one right way, and your corporate culture has a lot to do with it. But whatever you do regarding charging employees for duplicates or re-mailing, it would be a good idea to let the employees know in advance what they will be charged and under what circumstances. It might motivate them to be a little more careful!
And, of course, it goes without saying that you apply the policy consistently.
Keep that copier warm, and, remember, April 15 is only a month and a half away!
Catherine Bannon is an HR consultant in Marshfield, MA (catherine.bannon@gmail.com). Bannon worked for 10 years in HR management before starting her consulting practice.
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