IRS: Don’t Advertise Services with W-2 Forms

The Internal Revenue Service reminded practitioners that they should not include advertisements for their services when sending out W-2 forms.

“A recent inquiry sent to the Issue Management Resolution System concerned restrictions on including practitioner advertising with Forms W-2 and other information returns,” the IRS said in an email to payroll professionals Wednesday. “As a reminder, no additional enclosures, advertising, promotional material, or a quarterly or annual report are permitted.”

The IRS then linked to IMRS Issue 12-0001531 for more information.

“Even a sentence or two on the year-end statement describing new services offered by the payer is not permitted,” the IRS noted. “Logos, slogans and advertising may be used on any permissible enclosure such as a check or account statement, other than information returns and payee copies. See the general instructions of the information return for a list of permissible enclosures.”

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