Which 2 forms do you need to send to prepare for year end payroll and contractor reports?

Each year Square Payroll emails employers a year-end guide and timeline which walks you through what you need to have prepared at the end-of-year (EOY) for annual federal and state tax filings and how to prepare for the upcoming year. You can find this on Payroll in Square Dashboard as well. We recommend reading through the year-end guide to help ensure all of your business and team information is up to date before we file your annual payroll taxes.

Year-end timeline

We recommend taking these actions by the following dates. You can also find this timeline by going to Payroll in Square Dashboard.

These actions should be completed by their respective deadlines:

Review Form W-2 and/or Form 1099 paper mailing settings

In an effort to go green, Square Payroll sends annual tax forms W-2 and 1099-NEC to your team members electronically by default. If you prefer that your team receives mailed paper versions of their tax forms, you’ll need to opt in from your Payroll Settings by January 7, 2022.

Review team member information

Confirm your employee and contractors’ first and last names, Social Security numbers (SSN), and home addresses by going to Staff > Payroll > Payroll Team in Square Dashboard. This information will be printed on each of their Form W-2s and/or Form 1099-NECs. The last day to make changes to the draft Form W-2s and Form 1099-NECs is January 7, 2022. We will begin filing the tax forms on January 7, 2022 and digital copies will be available to your team through their online Team Member dashboard or in the Team App.

Learn more about downloading, verifying and distributing Form W-2 and Form 1099-NEC.

Add all former team members to Square Payroll

Double-check that all employees you’ve paid this year—including those who no longer work for you— have been added to Square Payroll. You are responsible for providing Form W-2 to all employees you paid in 2021. Learn more about adding employees to Square Payroll.

Previous payroll history should be provided to Square Payroll immediately after switching providers. If you have not transferred your year-to-date payroll history yet, please contact us as soon as possible and we will attempt to accommodate this request.

Contractor payments made prior to switching to Square Payroll can be made by signing in to Payroll in Square Dashboard. Choose the pay period and set the payment method to Pay All by Check to ensure the contractor is not paid an additional time. Add the contractors and paid amounts, then confirm the pay run. Payments made by January 7, 2022 will be reported on their 2021 Form 1099-NECs.

Send your final payroll

Payroll taxes are due based on the pay date, not the days employees worked. Any paychecks with a January 2022 pay date—regardless of the actual pay period—will be included in 2022 tax filings and annual Form W-2s. If you’d like wages to be included in 2021 Form W-2s, make sure the pay date recorded in Square Payroll is in 2021 before sending.

You’ll be able to send off-cycle payments and contractor payments for 2021 until January 7, 2022. Note: Off-cycle payrolls processed in 2022 may result in tax penalties. We recommend processing payroll as early as possible.

Pay year-end bonuses

You can pay year-end bonuses by running an off-cycle payment. When running the off-cycle payment, select Bonus or Supplemental Pay as the payment type and enter the desired amount under the Additional Pay column. Taxes will be calculated using the supplemental federal withholding rate of 22%. If you want bonuses to count towards 2021 wages, submit an off-cycle payment by January 7, 2022.

Note: Off-cycle payrolls processed in 2022 may result in tax penalties. We recommend paying out bonuses as early as possible.

Update State Unemployment Insurance (SUI) rate

Once you receive your new state UI rate, you can update it by going to Staff > Payroll > Settings > Tax Info in Square Dashboard. We recommend doing this before running your first payroll of 2022. If the rate is updated in the middle of the quarter, Square Payroll will recalculate your UI taxes and credit or debit your account based on the UI rate at the end of the quarter.

If you are in CA, NY, PA, VA, WA, or WI, we will automatically update this rate for you and no further action will be required.

Reset sick and/or paid time off (PTO) balances

Employee sick leave and/or PTO balances automatically roll over to the new calendar year. If you need to reset an employee’s sick leave and/or PTO balances, we recommend resetting these prior to sending your first pay run in 2022. You can update your employees’ sick leave and/or PTO balance on an employee’s profile by going to Staff > Payroll > Payroll Team in Square Dashboard.

Note: Depending on your state, you may be required by law to carry over accrued and unused paid sick leave balances to the new year.

Reset benefit contribution and post-tax deduction limits

Benefit and post-tax deduction limits apply to each calendar year. If you manage any benefits outside of Square Payroll, you can set up and adjust annual contribution limits for each benefit on an employee’s profile by going to Staff > Payroll > Payroll Team in Square Dashboard.

We recommend setting up your 2022 contribution limits prior to sending your first pay run in 2022. If you do not set any benefit or post-tax contributions, your 2022 limit will be set to your existing 2021 limit.

No further action is required for employers using our SimplyInsured or Guideline benefit integrations.

S-Corp Health Insurance reporting

If health and accident insurance premiums were paid for by a S-Corporation, shareholders with at least 2% ownership are required to report premiums as wages on their W-2s (subject to income tax withholding). You can read more about S-Corporation health premium reporting on the IRS website.

If you are set up as an S-Corporation on Square Payroll, we’ll send you an email requesting a list of names and premium amounts. Please respond to the email or contact us by December 22, 2021 with the premium amounts.

Taxpayer Address

Ensure that your taxpayer address is up to date so that your business’ tax reporting is accurate. If the taxpayer address that is on file with Square Payroll does not match what the IRS or your state agency has on file for you, there may be issues with your tax filings or payments. In the instance that tax forms are mailed to your business, you’ll want to have the correct address on file as well.

You are able to update your taxpayer address directly from your online Square dashboard. To do so:

1. Log into your online Square Payroll dashboard> Settings > Business Info.
3. Select Edit next to your Taxpayer Address and provide your correct address.
4. Press Save.

Note: Your updated Taxpayer Address cannot be in a new tax jurisdiction.  If you need to pay W-2 employees across work locations or multiple tax jurisdictions different from your business’ primary address, add the additional work addresses in your team member's profiles from the Payroll Team tab. From there, go to the Tax Info tab to add your state tax account information for the additional work locations.

Federal and state tax filings

Square Payroll completes federal and state tax filings and payments on your behalf at no additional charge. Once these forms are filed with the appropriate agencies, you can download, save, and print each document by going to Staff > Payroll > Tax Forms in your online Square Dashboard. See the Square Payroll tax filings and payments article for a full list of tax forms we handle.

Square Payroll will provide you with a digital copy of Form W-2 and Form 1099-NEC by January 31, 2022 for each team member that was paid in 2021. You should print these forms and provide physical copies to each team member, unless you have consent from a team member for electronic-only delivery.  In that case, you can email tax forms to those team members, or team members with online accounts can also access their tax forms through their online payroll account or through the Square Team app.

If you would prefer for Square Payroll to mail paper Form W-2 or Form 1099-NEC to your team, navigate to your Payroll Settings tab and toggle on Send W-2s and 1099s via paper mail by January 7, 2022. Square Payroll will mail a tax form to the addresses on file for all team members that were paid in the prior tax year.

Learn more about understanding and reviewing Form W-2 and Form 1099-NEC.