How to enter W-2 with both payroll company (PEO) and actual employer listed - which EIN and name to use for filing?

This is actually pretty common with Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs). The PEO is officially your employer for tax purposes - they handle payroll, benefits, etc. - even though you actually work for Brightstar Technologies. When filing your taxes, you should use exactly what's in Box C as it appears on your W-2. The EIN in Box B belongs to the PEO, since they're the ones who withhold and remit your taxes to the government. Your tax software gave you the right warning - if you change the format or try to use just Brightstar as the employer, it could create a mismatch with IRS records. The good news is you don't need to upgrade your software for this. Just enter the information exactly as it appears on your W-2, with both companies listed in the same order. The IRS is used to seeing W-2s formatted this way from PEO arrangements.

Hey there! I ran into this exact same issue last year. I work for a marketing agency but my W-2 had "PayrollExperts Inc." as the main company with my actual employer listed underneath. I spent hours trying to figure this out before discovering taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) which saved me so much frustration. The tool analyzed my W-2 and confirmed that I needed to use the PEO's name and EIN exactly as shown on the form. Apparently, the IRS matches the EIN with the name in their system, so the PEO needs to be the primary name. The site explained that my actual employer is listed as additional information but isn't what the IRS looks for when processing. The nice thing was that it analyzed the whole document and pointed out a couple other issues I would have missed with my deductions too.

Just wanted to follow up about taxr.ai - I decided to give it a try with my complicated W-2 situation and I'm seriously impressed! I was skeptical at first about uploading my documents, but their security explanation made sense, and the analysis was worth it. It immediately identified that my EIN belonged to the PEO company and explained exactly how to enter everything in TurboTax. Beyond that, it caught two deductions I was about to miss and explained a confusing entry in Box 12 that I wouldn't have known how to handle. The time saved was huge compared to my normal tax prep frustration. Definitely using this again next year when I inevitably get confused by some tax form or another!

I had a similar issue but with getting clarification directly from the IRS. I spent DAYS trying to get through on their phone line to ask about the correct way to file with a PEO arrangement. After 4 attempts and hours on hold, I was ready to just guess and risk an audit. Then a colleague told me about Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I watched their demo video (https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c) and decided to try it. They got me a callback from the IRS in under 2 hours! I explained my W-2 situation with the PEO and my actual employer both listed, and the agent confirmed I needed to use the exact format as shown on the W-2, with the PEO's EIN. The agent also explained that this is a standard arrangement and wouldn't trigger any red flags as long as I entered it exactly as shown on the form.

I need to apologize for my skepticism about Claimyr. After my dismissive comment, I decided to try it since I needed clarification on some independent contractor payments on my taxes. Honestly, I'm shocked at how well it worked. I expected to waste money, but within 3 hours I had an actual IRS agent on the phone. The craziest part was watching their system navigate the phone tree and hearing when they got put on hold - all while I was free to do other things. The IRS agent answered all my questions about contractor payments AND cleared up my W-2 situation which was similar to the original poster's. Turns out I've been filing correctly all along, but it was worth the peace of mind. For anyone as skeptical as I was - it's legit. Saved me a day of frustration and gave me confidence my return is correct.

Don't stress about this - I've been an HR manager for 15 years and this is standard for companies that use PEOs. When we switched to a PEO structure, we had to explain this exact situation to employees. Here's what's happening: The PEO (Professional Employer Organization) is technically your legal employer for payroll and tax purposes. They're responsible for processing payroll, withholding taxes, providing benefits, etc. Your actual company (Brightstar) is your functional employer who directs your work. BOTH names appear on the W-2 because: 1. The PEO is the tax entity with the EIN that the IRS recognizes 2. Your actual company is included for clarification Just enter it EXACTLY as it appears on your W-2 with both names. Don't rearrange anything. The IRS systems are set up to handle this common arrangement.

I'm seeing a lot of good advice here but wanted to add that I use FreeTaxUSA and they have a specific field for this situation! When entering W-2 info, there's actually a checkbox that says something like "This W-2 was issued by a PEO or third-party sick pay provider" - when you check that, it lets you enter both company names correctly. Not sure what software you're using, but might be worth checking if there's a similar option? This is common enough that good tax software should handle it without requiring an upgrade.

I had this exact same situation last year and it caused me so much anxiety! I work for a tech startup but my W-2 showed our payroll company first, then my actual employer underneath. What finally helped me was calling my company's HR department directly. They explained that when they switched to using a PEO, all employee W-2s would show both entities. The HR rep confirmed that I should enter it exactly as printed on the W-2 - PEO name first (since they have the EIN), then my actual company name on the next line. She also mentioned that this is becoming more common as smaller companies use PEOs to handle payroll complexity. The IRS sees these arrangements all the time, so as long as you match the W-2 format exactly, there shouldn't be any issues. One tip: take a photo of your physical W-2 before entering anything into tax software, so you can double-check that you're matching the exact format if the software tries to rearrange things during import.

This is a really helpful thread! I'm dealing with a similar W-2 situation where my company uses ADP TotalSource as their PEO. My W-2 shows "ADP TotalSource, Inc." first, then my actual employer "GreenLeaf Marketing" underneath in Box C. What's been confusing me is that when I look at my paystubs throughout the year, they only show my actual employer's name (GreenLeaf Marketing), but the W-2 format is completely different. I was worried there might be an error on my W-2. Based on all the advice here, it sounds like this is totally normal and I should just enter both names exactly as they appear on the W-2. The explanation about PEOs being the "employer of record" while your actual company is the "worksite employer" really clears things up. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences - it's reassuring to know this is a common situation and not something to stress about!