How to prepare
We know the end of the year can be a hectic time for your business. We’re here to help make the process as easy as possible. Be sure to share this information with your employees as well.
COMMON FORMS
W-2: Tax form issued to any full or part-time employee that receives a payment through Justworks
1099-NEC: Tax form issued to report nonemployee compensation of $600 or more
1099-MISC: Tax form issued to report miscellaneous payments such as royalties and rents
940: Employer's Annual Federal Unemployment (FUTA) Tax Return
- Reports tax contributions to federal unemployment
- Justworks files Form 940 in the aggregate under Justworks' EIN
941: Quarterly Federal Tax Return
- Reports income taxes, Social Security, Medicare taxes withheld from employees
- Justworks files Form 941 in the aggregate under Justworks' EIN
W-3 (Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements): used to file the Copy A portions of W-2 forms to the Social Security Administration (SSA)
- Justworks submits timely, by the January 31 deadline
Important things to note
Your employees’ W-2s will list Justworks as the employer rather than your company’s name. It will also reflect Justworks information rather than your company’s because Justworks files taxes on behalf of your company. The 1099s for your contractors and vendors will list your company information.
What to consider
CHECK YOUR EMPLOYEE AND COMPANY DATA
Your tax forms are only as good as the information you give us. Verify all your employees’ information in Justworks, including:
- Employee name
- Employee home and work addresses, and mailing address (if applicable)
- Employee SSN
If any information is incorrect, update it in Justworks by December 18th, 2020.
To make this easier next year, check out our Best Practices for Running Payroll.
SCHEDULE PAYMENTS AND BONUSES EARLY
For payments to be reflected on 2020 W-2s and 1099s, the recipient must receive the payment in 2020. To that end, ensure you have scheduled all 2020 payments and bonuses (hourly, salaried, supplemental, contractor, and vendor) by 2pm EST on December 24th, 2020.
We recommend scheduling all payments ahead of the above deadline to allow admins and employees to make adjustments, including one-time deferral changes, and to account for potential holiday disruptions.
If you'd like to apply only 401(k) deductions for any bonuses or other supplemental payments for your employees, please reach out to your Account Manager or our Customer Success team.
Learn how to make bonus payments and custom bonuses.
TELL US IF YOU’VE PAID ANY CONTRACTORS OR VENDORS OUTSIDE JUSTWORKS
If you have paid any contractors or vendors by check or other means outside Justworks, you need to update the total amount paid to each in Justworks by December 24th, 2020. This is so we can file 1099s for contractors & vendors on your behalf.
Contractors and vendors should receive only one 1099 from you, so be sure to indicate “Do not file” in their Justworks Contractor and Vendor Settings to avoid generating a second form if you’re handling 1099 filings for these contractors and vendors externally.
You can do this in-app for both contractors and vendors, by navigating to their profile.
RECORD ANY FRINGE BENEFITS YOU’VE PAID TO EMPLOYEES OUTSIDE JUSTWORKS
If you have provided any fringe benefits to your employees that you have not yet recorded in the Justworks Payments Center, be sure to do this sooner rather than later. This will add the value of the previously paid fringe benefit to your employees’ paycheck to record and deduct the applicable taxes. It’s a good idea to let your employees know when you’ll be recording this so they aren’t surprised by a lower net payment due to the fringe benefit tax deduction(s).
Learn more about fringe benefits.
VISIT YOUR 2020 END OF YEAR TASKS PAGE
The End of Year Task List is your #1 destination for all things end of year. There, you’ll find deadlines to help you stay on track, a task list where you can mark your progress, and resources to help you guide your employees through end of year to-dos.
End of Year Filing
As your PEO, Justworks handles your quarterly and year-end employment-related filings so there is one less thing for you to think about during this busy season. To help ensure that we can take care of this for you with no issues, please have your employees keep their info, such as names, address, date of birth, and social security numbers up to date.
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Justworks will file the following forms on your behalf: Forms W-2, Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC, Forms W-3, Forms 940, Forms 941, Forms 1096, Forms 1094-C and 1095-C (if applicable).
Justworks will also issue the following forms on your behalf to your employees, contractors, and vendors, as applicable: Forms W-2 and Forms 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC, Forms 1095-C.For companies offering benefits through Justworks, the insurance carrier will provide Form 1095-B.
Security
Please be mindful of phishing schemes that are more common at this time of year. As your PEO, we’ll be collecting a lot of information from you for the purpose of payroll and tax filing.
There are a few things you can do to protect your and your team’s information:
- Set a strong, unique password for your account (that you don't use for anything else) and don’t share your password with others. Justworks will never ask for this information from you.
- Enable 2-factor authentication, and strongly encourage your employees to do the same.
- Be mindful of phishing schemes that are more common at this time of year. You can hover over hyperlinks in emails to check that the URL is related to the company that appears to be writing you.
- Be careful about what you share via email. Justworks will never ask you to send Social Security Numbers or other sensitive information over email.
Disclaimer
This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, legal or tax advice. If you have any legal or tax questions regarding this content or related issues, then you should consult with your professional legal or tax advisor.