Last updated: May 14, 2026, 10:59 AM
The central guide to Form W-2 season in Toast Payroll — who does what, when forms are available, and where to go for each W-2 task.
2025 Form W-2s are available in Toast Payroll on Monday, January 19th, 2026. Employees can find their W-2 in the MyToast app under Pay > Access Tax Forms (W-2s) or in Toast Payroll under My Profile > Taxes & Documents > Year End Documents. Employers who have employees opted into a paper Form W-2 are responsible for distributing those paper forms by Saturday, January 31st, 2026. If a Form W-2 needs a correction (wrong name, address, SSN, or wage amount), the employer's HR+ user contacts Toast Customer Care — see Fix Errors on a Form W-2 below.
Use this table to jump directly to the section, companion article, or product path you need. The "Self-service?" column tells you whether you can complete the task yourself or whether you need to contact Customer Care.
| What you need | Where to go | Self-service? |
|---|---|---|
| I'm an employee and I want to find my 2025 W-2 | Yes | |
| I'm an employee and I lost my paper W-2 | Download a digital copy from MyToast or Toast Payroll — see FAQ: I lost my paper Form W-2 | Yes |
| I need a W-2 from a prior year (2024 or earlier) | Log in to Toast Payroll and select the prior year in My Profile > Taxes & Documents > Year End Documents — see FAQ: prior year W-2 | Yes |
| I'm an HR+ user and I need to download paper W-2s for distribution | See Toast Payroll: Download and Print Form W-2s (for Employers) | Yes |
| I'm an HR+ user and I need a list of all employee W-2s | Use the Employees opting for electronic W-2s tile and the 2025 Paper W-2s button in the Tax Center — see Toast Payroll: Download and Print Form W-2s (for Employers) | Yes |
| An employee's name or address is wrong on their W-2 | Update the employee profile, then HR+ requests a refresh — see Fix Errors on a Form W-2 | No (HR+ user contacts Customer Care) |
| An employee's SSN, wages, or tax amount is wrong on their W-2 | Update the employee profile if needed, then HR+ requests an amendment ($250 fee, 10–12 weeks) — see Fix Errors on a Form W-2 | No (HR+ user contacts Customer Care) |
| I want to understand a specific box on my W-2 (Box 1, Box 4, etc.) | Yes | |
| I'm getting an error filing taxes (TurboTax / FreeTaxUSA) | Yes | |
| I can't access my W-2 because of a login or password issue | Yes |
A Form W-2 is a federal form filed with the IRS and provided to employees with their wage information and taxes withheld from those wages throughout the calendar year. This form is one document used by individuals to file taxes annually.
This six-minute video teaches employees where their Form W-2 is in Toast Payroll and how to understand the information on it.
Note: Toast cannot advise on tax withholding or tax filing processes. Employers and employees alike should consult an accountant or tax professional with questions regarding their tax situation.
These dates apply to the 2025 calendar year W-2s, which are filed in early 2026.
| Date | What happens | Who it affects |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 | Last day to make changes that will affect 2025 Form W-2s, including updates to Form W-4s. Any changes made on or after January 7th, 2026 will not take effect for the 2025 calendar year. | Employees, HR+ users |
| Monday, January 19th, 2026 | 2025 Form W-2s are uploaded to the Toast Payroll system and the MyToast app. Toast-printed paper W-2s arrive at one central location per business on or around this date. | Everyone |
| Saturday, January 31st, 2026 | SSA deadline for delivering or postmarking paper Form W-2s to employees who opted into paper. | HR+ users / Employers |
Before the January 6th, 2026 cutoff, complete the following preparation tasks. This list is not comprehensive — contact a CPA or tax pro for advice specific to your circumstances.
Accurate Social Security numbers (SSNs) are crucial to tax filing. Inaccurate or missing SSNs may result in inaccurate tax filings, tax filings not being accepted by state tax agencies, and/or financial penalties for employers. See Toast Payroll: Social Security Number (SSN) Information Policy for more details.
Employees: Log in to Toast Payroll. Verify your SSN on file by navigating to My Profile > Profile and selecting Retrieve SSN. Select Yes for business reasons and then select the eyeball icon.
HR+ Users: View which employees are missing their SSN by navigating to Taxes in Toast Payroll. Locate any tasks with the format [Employee name] has not provided their Social Security Number in the Tax Center and use the Provide link to enter an SSN into an employee's profile. Encourage your employees to verify their SSN on file to reduce the risk of inaccurate Form W-2s.
Expected outcome: The employee's SSN is accurate in Toast Payroll before the January 6th, 2026 cutoff, so it will appear correctly on their 2025 Form W-2.
At any point throughout the year, an employee can make changes to the settings of their federal Form W-4 or other applicable state tax forms. Updates to the forms will adjust the taxes withheld from wages according to the new settings. The updated settings will impact the withholdings on any future payroll, but do not change any past withholdings. Tax amounts withheld throughout the year appear on a Form W-2.
Employees: Log in to Toast Payroll and navigate to My Profile > Taxes & Documents > Tax Forms tab. Use the hyperlinked Form W-4s to make your edits. Form W-4 edits are not retroactive, so any edits you make will only apply to future payrolls.
Managers and HR+ Users: For security reasons, only the individual themselves is allowed to update their own Form W-4.
Expected outcome: The updated Form W-4 settings apply to future payrolls and the resulting tax withholdings appear on the next Form W-2.
Each employee chooses to receive their Form W-2 as a paper copy or electronic copy. Electronic delivery is the preferred and defaulted selection — it is more secure (the form contains the employee's full SSN), can be retrieved anytime, and cannot be lost or stolen.
Employees: To check or change your selection of a paper or electronic Form W-2, log in to Toast Payroll and select View taxes & documents. Select Edit, make your selection, and e-sign within the box. This must be done prior to the last payroll of the tax year or it will not take effect for that year.
Managers and HR+ Users: Managers can edit an active employee's election on behalf of the employee by navigating to Reports > Tax Filing > Year End Documents. Select the checkbox for the employees you wish to edit and select the Edit button at the bottom of the page.
Important: Companies are responsible for providing a paper Form W-2 to employees who did not consent to an electronic Form W-2. Read more about the IRS regulations on Furnishing Form W-2 to Employees Electronically.
Expected outcome: Each employee's delivery method (paper or electronic) is set before the last payroll of the year and locks in for the 2025 W-2.
HR+ users can choose how the company receives Form W-2s for employees who elected for a paper copy: print the forms yourself, or have Toast print them for a fee plus standard shipping costs. Either way, the company is responsible for distributing them individually. Toast cannot email or mail Form W-2s directly to employees because the form contains the employee's entire SSN.
To make a selection, navigate to Taxes and locate the toggle in the Tax Center. You can change this setting beginning in April of each year, and it will lock after submitting your last payroll of each year.
When this toggle is set to Print yourself, Toast will create PDF files containing the Form W-2s for employees who elected to receive a paper copy. On January 19th, 2026, navigate back to Taxes and select the 2025 Paper W-2s button. This will download a PDF file of all paper-opted Form W-2s that you can print yourself.
When set to Mail to business, Toast Payroll will print the forms for $5 per form plus standard shipping fees and send them to the address listed on this page. A single package of printed Form W-2s will be delivered for each FEIN. Toast cannot ship Form W-2s directly to your employees.
Note: This toggle will not be available if all staff members of your company have opted into electronic Form W-2s.
Expected outcome: The printing method is locked in before the last payroll of the year and applies to all paper-opted Form W-2s for the 2025 year.
After January 6th, 2026, Toast closes out the year and begins filing and generating Form W-2s. The 2025 Form W-2s are uploaded to Toast Payroll and the MyToast app on Monday, January 19th, 2026.
You can post a notice in a high-traffic area of your restaurant regarding when and where employees may access their Form W-2.
If you opted into a paper Form W-2, you will receive it from your employer. There are two ways to find your electronic Form W-2 on or after January 19th, 2026:
The electronic version can be used to file your annual taxes. Electronic Form W-2s are available to all employees, whether or not you opted into an electronic or paper Form W-2.
For full step-by-step instructions, see Toast Payroll: Find Your Form W-2 (For Employees).
Important: To keep your information secure, Toast cannot send Form W-2s to an employee's email or home address.
Expected outcome: You can view, download, or print your 2025 Form W-2 from either the MyToast app or Toast Payroll on or after January 19th, 2026.
Note: If you do not see the 2025 Paper W-2s button, either no employees opted into paper, or Toast is printing the paper Form W-2s for you (you still distribute them). If the Tax Center displays a No paper W-2s to distribute message, you are not responsible for printing or distributing any Form W-2s.
For complete download and printing instructions, see Toast Payroll: Download and Print Form W-2s (for Employers).
Expected outcome: Paper Form W-2s for employees who opted in are downloaded, printed, and distributed by January 31st, 2026.
Form W-2s may be printed on standard paper with standard printer settings. You can select to print directly from the PDF and it should print correctly. If the Form W-2 is cut off, being printed on two pages, or printing on the back of the same page, visit Toast Payroll: Download and Print Form W-2s (for Employers) for more details.
You only need to distribute Form W-2s to employees who opted into a paper copy. Employees who opted into an electronic copy can retrieve their Form W-2s themselves by following the instructions in Toast Payroll: Find Your Form W-2 (For Employees).
The format of Toast Payroll Form W-2s left-aligns both the company and employee addresses. If you have any current or former employees who opted into a paper Form W-2, you can use a common style of double-window envelopes to mail them their form, if necessary.
Once you have your Form W-2, you may be ready to file taxes. You may also need other documents to file.
For a box-by-box guide to reading your Form W-2 (Box 1 wages, Box 3 social security wages, Box 4 social security tax, Box 12 codes, etc.), see Toast Payroll: Understand Your Form W-2. Toast Payroll cannot advise on an individual's specific tax or filing situation. Contact an accountant or tax professional for more assistance.
The One Big Beautiful Bill allows individual tax deductions on tip and overtime premium amounts for eligible employees when filing their personal income taxes. Toast Payroll has indicated these tip amounts and overtime premium amounts on employee profiles in Toast Payroll under My Profile > Taxes & Documents > Year End Documents. Learn more by reading Toast Payroll: No Tax on Tips and/or Overtime. See an accountant or tax professional for advice.
Be aware of the possible federal tax benefits. See Notice 797.
If questions about filing taxes arise, Toast Payroll cannot offer advice about how to file or why numbers calculate the way they do. It may be helpful to contact an accountant/tax professional or review these publications:
If a current or former W-2 employee had wages paid out through Toast Payroll during a calendar year, Toast generates a Form W-2 for them and submits it to the IRS. If you find an error, the fix depends on what is wrong.
There are two correction paths in Toast Payroll, and they are not interchangeable. The table below tells you which one applies and what to expect.
| What is wrong | Correction type | Fee | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employee name (minor change) or home address | Refresh — typically not subject to fees. Significant changes to a W-2 employee's name may require an amendment instead. | None in most cases | Refreshes generated every Friday around 5 p.m. ET; completion may extend beyond the week the request is received |
| Social Security Number (SSN) | Amendment | $250 per request (as of February 2026) | 10–12 weeks |
| Earnings, tips, deductions, taxes, or other wage amount | Amendment | $250 per request (as of February 2026) | 10–12 weeks |
A single amendment request can include any number of employees, quarters, and FEINs as long as everything is included in one request. As of April 2026, amendments are no longer subject to blackout months.
If you find an error on a Form W-2, contact your manager or HR team. Toast Payroll cannot directly assist employees with these issues — your employer must submit the correction or amendment request on your behalf.
The employee should correct any discrepancies on their profile in Toast Payroll. This must be done prior to a Form W-2 refresh.
The HR+ user contacts Toast Payroll Customer Care via the blue chat dot in the lower-right corner of any Toast Payroll page. Include:
Refreshed Form W-2s are uploaded to the employee's Tax Forms page under Taxes & Documents in their profile.
Note: Refreshes are processed manually by the Toast Payroll Tax team. There is no guarantee that every refresh request submitted will be available on the immediately following Friday. Based on the timing of the request and the volume of impacted profiles, completion may extend beyond the week the request is received.
For complete refresh details, see Toast Payroll: Get Help With Form W-2 Amendments.
Expected outcome: A refreshed Form W-2 is uploaded to the employee's profile, typically within one to a few weeks.
For SSN errors: The employee first navigates to their profile and re-enters their correct social security number.
For wage, deduction, or tax errors: Identify all discrepancies before requesting corrected Form W-2s. Toast cannot accommodate multiple Form W-2 requests for the same employee during the same filing period.
The HR+ user contacts Toast Payroll Customer Care via the blue chat dot in the lower-right corner of any Toast Payroll page. Include:
Toast Customer Care cross-references the request, agrees on the $250 fee, and processes the amendment. Requests may take up to 10–12 weeks to complete and Toast cannot guarantee the date of completion will be before filing deadlines occur.
Once complete, Toast notifies the employer via email. Employees can then find the corrected Form W-2 in the MyToast app or in their Tax Forms page.
For complete amendment details, see Toast Payroll: Get Help With Form W-2 Amendments.
Expected outcome: An amended Form W-2 is uploaded to the employee's profile within 10–12 weeks of the fee being agreed.
The 2025 Form W-2s will be available in Toast Payroll on Monday, January 19th, 2026.
Also asked as:
You can download your W-2 in two ways on or after January 19th, 2026. These instructions apply to active and terminated employees.
Also asked as:
MyToast Method:
Toast Payroll Method:
No matter your election status (paper or electronic), you can always get a digital Form W-2 from the MyToast app by logging in and selecting Pay > Access Tax Forms (W-2s). To print your Form W-2, log in to Toast Payroll and select Download from the blue banner at the top, then select a hyperlinked form on that page.
Also asked as:
If you worked at a Toast Payroll customer in a prior year and had taxable wages, your prior-year W-2 is available in Toast Payroll. Log in at payroll.toasttab.com, navigate to My Profile > Taxes & Documents > Year End Documents, and select the year of the Form W-2 you need.
Also asked as:
If you cannot see a prior year W-2 you expected, the most likely causes are:
If neither applies, contact your former employer or the company's current payroll provider.
Former employees follow the same process as active employees. Note: the MyToast app's Pay tab is only available for current employees — former employees should use the Toast Payroll website at payroll.toasttab.com.
If they have trouble logging in due to an error received or a misplaced email address and password, an employer may need to resend the invite link due to changes Toast made for account and login security.
To protect an employee's personal information such as SSN and yearly wages, Toast Payroll cannot send a Form W-2 to an employee via email or paper mail. They will be available in MyToast and the Toast Payroll system for distribution.
Also asked as:
There are two error messages that employees may receive when filing with companies such as TurboTax and FreeTaxUSA:
"It looks like you're due a refund from your employer. Your employer withheld too much Social Security tax from your wages in 2025."
Box D / Control Number missing
Box 4 of a W-2 is the total Social Security tax withheld over the year. It must equal 6.2% of Box 3 (plus Box 7 if applicable — Social Security tips are withheld at the same rate). If Box 4 is more than 6.2% of Box 3 alone, it is most likely because Box 7 (Social Security tips) is being added to the calculation. For a complete box-by-box explanation, see Toast Payroll: Understand Your Form W-2.
Also asked as:
Toast Payroll generates your Form W-2s for the year (as long as you used Toast Payroll for the full year and did not switch to another payroll provider later in the year). Toast Payroll files state W-2 reports electronically where possible, but successful filing depends on having complete tax information on file (tax IDs, SSNs, and state tax rates). If anything is missing, Toast may not be able to file electronically.
If you receive a notice from a state agency about a missed W-2 filing, contact Toast Payroll Customer Care with the notice details so the Tax team can investigate.
The Tax Center is a Toast Payroll hub which contains tasks to be completed to help enable a successful quarterly and annual tax filing. By frequently checking the Tax Center and completing these tasks, you can plan for upcoming payroll tax filings and ensure Toast Payroll has the items necessary for your payroll tax filings. Navigate to Taxes in the left-hand navigation of Toast Payroll. Visit Toast Payroll: Manage Payroll Taxes for more information.
The One Big Beautiful Act has "no taxes on tips" and "no taxes on overtime" provisions. This means individual employee tax deductions are available for eligible employees when they file their 2025 personal income tax return in 2026. To aid in this personal tax filing, Toast Payroll has indicated these tip amounts and overtime premium amounts on employee profiles in Toast Payroll under My Profile > Taxes & Documents > Year End Documents. Toast Payroll: No Tax on Tips and/or Overtime offers more information. See an accountant or tax professional for advice.
The W-2 corrections workflows (refresh and amendment) require Toast Payroll Customer Care to perform a backend action. To speed up your request, gather the following before contacting Customer Care via the blue chat dot in the lower-right corner of any Toast Payroll page:
If your question is one of the self-service items in the Which W-2 Task Are You Doing? table above, try those steps first — most W-2 retrieval, download, and printing tasks do not require Customer Care.
This content is for informational purposes and is not intended as legal, tax, HR, or any other professional advice. Please contact an attorney or other professional for specific advice.