What is the penalty assessment for failure to file?
House File 2552 introduced a $500 civil penalty to each payer for each occurrence.
- Willful failure to furnish or furnish late an employee, nonresident, or other person with an income statement.
- Willfully furnishing a false or fraudulent statement w/payee.
- Willful failure to file or late file an income statement with the Department.
- Willfully filing a false or fraudulent statement with the Department.
Applies to income statements due on or after July 1, 2022.
Example:
- Employer or payer has 10 employees or 10 payees and does not provide the employees or payees their W-2s or 1099s by January 31st in the year they are due. The penalty would be:
- $500 x 10 = $5,000 for failing to furnish each employee or payee with a W-2 or 1099.
- Same employer or payer in example 1 does not provide the Department those same W-2s or 1099s with IA withholding. They are subject to a single $500 penalty for failing to furnish the Department with the W-2 or 1099 forms.
How do I file corrected W-2s or 1099s?
Users are not bound to the original filing method when filing corrected forms. Submit corrected information via file upload or manual key. Follow the same steps as you would if you were filing original information.
The Department will always use the last uploaded file or manual key submission for data purposes. Duplicate W-2 and 1099 forms will be discarded.
How do I file corrected W-2 or 1099 information if the original submission was submitted under an incorrect SSN/ITIN?
You may submit the corrected information via file upload or manual key submission. An additional step is needed to correct information submitted under the wrong SSN/ITIN.
- Submit a file or manual key submission listing employee/payee information at $0 under the incorrect SSN or ITIN. (This clears out incorrect wages or withholding under the incorrect SSN or ITIN)
- Submit a file or manual key submission with the correct employee/payee information, under the correct SSN or ITIN.
What if I miss the February 15 deadline to submit W-2s or 1099 forms?
The Department still requires your W-2 and 1099 forms to be submitted even if the deadline is missed. We do allow one 30 day filing extension, but the extension request must be filed by February 15 of the year the forms are due or prior to the deadline.
Note: the filing extension extends the deadline 30 days from February 15.
My software requires a BEN to be included within the file. What do I input within this field?
The BEN is no longer used within the Department’s file layouts, therefore you can fill this field with 0’s.
Does Iowa participate in Combined Reporting?
The Social Security Administration (SSA) offers no Combined Reporting program for reporting W-2 wage and tax statements to both the Social Security Administration and state revenue agencies.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) offers Combined Federal/State Filing program (CF/SF) for reporting certain information returns to both the IRS and state revenue agencies, but the Department does not participate in it.
Will Iowa accept: CD-ROMs; Cartridges; Flash drives; Floppy disks; Magnetic media; PDF files created at SSA website; or paper?
No.
Do I need authorization to upload my file to Iowa?
Transmitters registered as Bulk Filers with the Department must use their own GovConnectIowa credentials to upload withholding returns, wage and tax statements, and information returns on behalf of their software subscribers.
Payroll Service Providers registered as Bulk Filers with the Department must use their own GovConnectIowa credentials to upload withholding returns, wage and tax statements, and information returns on behalf of their clients.
Companies registered to file Iowa withholding returns use their existing GovConnectIowa credentials to upload wage and tax statements and information returns for their own company if their software company does not otherwise provide transmitter service.
Is a transmittal letter required with my file?
No. Do not include a transmittal letter.
How will I know the Department received my file?
For each file Iowa receives, Iowa posts a confirmation number. If there are issues with your data, the errors will report why your file (or parts of it) was rejected; error messages will be listed accordingly. You will need to correct the errors prior to getting a confirmed submission.
Is a test file required?
Software vendors: Testing is required. Software vendors (and commercial payroll service providers who develop their own software) will access the GovConnectIowa developer portal after they register their product(s) with the Department.
Software customers: Testing is discretionary. Sample files may be uploaded through Iowa’s GovConnectIowa Developer Portal.
Upload file using GovConnectIowa
Log in: Go to GovConnectIowa. Log in using the same credentials that you use to file your Iowa withholding tax return.
Upload: Select “Submit W-2s and 1099s”. Only taxpayers with a withholding permit or those registered as a bulk filer will have this option.
Check Results: Results will immediately be displayed. Errors will need to be corrected prior to getting a successful submission.