Employer reissued normal W2 instead of W2-C to reflect HSA bonus contribution in box 12 code W

This happens more often than you'd think! When an employer discovers an error on a W2 before the filing deadline, they have two options: issue a W2-C (correction form) OR completely reissue a new W2. Both are legitimate approaches. If your employer chose to give you a brand new W2 (rather than a W2-C), then you should simply use that new W2 when filing and disregard the incorrect one completely. There's no need to check any special boxes in your tax software or indicate it was a correction. The IRS will only see the final W2 that your employer submitted. The key thing is that your employer must also submit this corrected information to the Social Security Administration, which they should handle on their end. If you want to be extra cautious, you could confirm with your HR/payroll department that they've done this.

After struggling with a similar W2 correction situation last year (mine was for retirement contributions), I found this amazing tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that really helped clear things up. It's basically an AI tax assistant that can analyze your tax forms and tell you exactly what to do. I uploaded both my original W2 and the reissued one, and it immediately explained that this was completely normal and that I should just use the new W2. It saved me from calling the IRS and waiting on hold for hours. The tool also confirmed that my employer was handling things correctly by reissuing rather than using a W2-C.

I want to follow up about that taxr.ai site that was mentioned. I was skeptical at first (I commented about security concerns), but I decided to give it a try with my own W2 correction issue. I blocked out my SSN first just to be safe. I was honestly surprised at how helpful it was! It confirmed exactly what to do with my reissued W2 and also flagged that my employer had calculated my dependent care benefits incorrectly (something I completely missed). The explanations were super clear and in plain English - not tax jargon. Ended up saving me from potentially filing incorrectly. Not trying to sound like an advertisement, but just wanted to share since it actually helped with almost the exact same situation as the original post.

If you're still concerned, you might want to call the IRS directly to confirm how to handle this. I had a similar situation last tax season and spent DAYS trying to get through to an actual person at the IRS. I finally found this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that got me through to a real IRS agent in about 20 minutes instead of waiting for hours or getting disconnected. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent confirmed exactly what others have said here - just use the new W2 and disregard the old one. The agent also mentioned that employers prefer reissuing W2s rather than W2-Cs when possible because it's less confusing for everyone. Seriously worth the time saved not waiting on hold!

I need to eat my words about that Claimyr service for reaching the IRS. After posting my skeptical comment, I actually ended up trying it when I needed to resolve an issue with a missing tax form before filing. I'm shocked to say it worked exactly as promised. I was connected to an IRS representative in about 15 minutes. The rep confirmed that reissuing a W2 instead of using a W2-C is completely valid and that I should just use the most recent W2 for filing. They also checked my account and confirmed no flags for having multiple W2 submissions. For anyone dealing with W2 issues who needs official confirmation from the IRS, this is way better than wasting an entire day on hold. Never thought I'd be recommending something like this, but it genuinely solved my problem.

My company does payroll for several small businesses, and we actually prefer reissuing W2s rather than W2-Cs when we catch errors early. The W2-C form is confusing for most employees because it shows the delta between incorrect and correct amounts rather than the final numbers. When we reissue a W2, we mark the original as "VOID" in our system so the SSA knows to use the latest submission. As long as your employer properly submitted the corrected W2 to the SSA (which they should have), you're good to just use the new one.

Friendly reminder to everyone - make sure you keep BOTH W2s (the original incorrect one and the reissued correct one) with your tax records for at least 3 years. Even though you'll only file using the corrected one, if you ever get audited, having both documents helps explain any discrepancies the IRS might question.