Join The Online World—A Message For
Small Business Owners

(January, 2009)

There is an old business rule that says "No job is finished until the paperwork is done." If you are one of the millions of small business owners in this country, you undoubtedly know the truth of this statement. But did you know that Social Security can lighten your paperwork filing burden with free, fast and secure online business services?

For example, you can stop doing all your wage reports on paper and start doing them online. That includes Forms W-2 for your employees and Forms W-2 and W-3 for Uncle Sam. All you need are two things you probably already have: a computer and an Internet connection.

From our employer homepage, www.socialsecurity.gov/employer, simply visit the "Business Services Online" link, and then select the "Register" option. You register for a User ID Number only once, not every year. You can register at any time, with the best time being now, before the tax-filing season.

When you’re ready to prepare your W-2's, go back to www.socialsecurity.gov/employer and log in with the User ID Number you received at registration and the password you chose. After you log in, select the option for creating wage reports online. The first form you will be asked to fill out tells Social Security who the employer is. Just follow the simple instructions on the screen.

Another big advantage to electronic wage reporting is the ease of making corrections. If you find a mistake before you have actually submitted your report, you simply log in and make the changes, then print new W-2s for the employees involved. And even if you need to make corrections after you have submitted your wage reports to Social Security you can file the correction forms (W-2c and W-3c) online, too.

So save yourself some time and effort. And save a few trees in the process. Turn your entire wage reporting paperwork into just a few key strokes.

If you are still skeptical, just ask some fellow small business owners who have already made the switch to the online wage-reporting world. They will undoubtedly tell you that they would never go back to paper again.

Visit Social Security’s Business Services Online at www.socialsecurity.gov/employer.

Ginny Jordan is a Public Affairs Specialist for the Social Security Administration. Her weekly column on all things Social Security appears in the Sunday Edition of the Sun-Sentinel.

Ginny has agreed to let us reprint her articles here for your convenience.

Thank you Ginny!