TY 2024 Form W-2: Make sure you have the updated version from IRS

With TY 2023 forms out the door, you may be thinking about next year-end and what changes you can expect on Form W-2.

IRS posted the final version of the 2024 Form W-2 on its website in December of 2023. A month later, it reposted the form with revisions.

In a January 9, 2024, announcement, IRS explained what it revised on the W-2 (and similarly on the W-2AS, W-2GU, and W-2VI).

Specifically, it updated a section of Instructions for Employee, found on the back of Copy 2.

In those instructions, IRS removed some info about box 12, code S, related to SIMPLE plans. While the TY 2023 Form W-2 states employee salary reduction contributions under SIMPLE IRA plans are “not included in box 1,” the 2024 version of the form doesn’t include that phrase.

The January announcement makes clear, though, that if the salary reduction contributions are made to a Roth SIMPLE IRA, then they are included in box 1.

What else you’ll find on Form W-2

There are additional differences between the 2023 version and the 2024 version of Form W-2. Another code for box 12 has been added to Instructions for Employee. In 2023, the final code on the list was HH, standing for aggregate deferrals under section 83(i) elections as of the close of the calendar year. In 2024, code II now completes the list. It’s for Medicaid waiver payments excluded from gross income under Notice 2014-7.

Also, in the Employers, Please Note section, information about e-filing has been updated to reflect the lower electronic filing threshold that went into effect starting with the recently filed TY 2023 forms. The previous description has been replaced by this sentence: “If you file 10 or more information returns, you must file electronically.”