Form W-3, Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements, is the summary form an employer files with the Social Security Administration alongside copies of every employee W-2 issued for the year. It reports the combined totals of wages, tips, and tax withholdings across all employees for a legal entity.
A W-2 reports one employee's individual wage and tax information and is provided to that employee. A W-3 is the employer-facing counterpart: it summarizes every W-2 filed for a legal entity into a single transmittal record submitted to the Social Security Administration. Employees do not receive or access a W-3.
Learn more about how employees access their own W-2s.
R365's Role in W-3 Filing
R365 files Form W-3 electronically with the Social Security Administration on the employer's behalf. This filing happens automatically as part of year-end W-2 processing, so the legal entity does not need to file a separate W-3 with the SSA.
Review the Payroll Year End FAQ for W-2 review and mailing deadlines. W-3 filing follows the same year-end timeline as W-2 processing.
Where Employers Access W-3 Information
W-3 information is available on the Documents page, under Payroll → Documents → Tax Documents. For the current tax year, this location shows the reported wage totals used for the W-3, since the SSA filing for that year has not been completed yet. Once R365 completes the electronic filing for a prior tax year, the filed W-3 for that year is available in the Federal Folder.
Employers who need W-3 totals before a filed copy is available in R365 can reference the same wage and tax figures shown on the W-2 Detail Report, since the W-3 total is the sum of all W-2 amounts issued for the legal entity.
Navigating to W-3 information
Open the Payroll application
Click Documents
Select Tax documents
Select Federal
Select the year
View W-3 files
