A restaurant year-end payroll checklist, through W-2s

A restaurant’s payroll year does not end on December 31. It ends when the last forms go out, and the work behind those forms is almost all checking: that the right people are in the system, under the right names and numbers, with the right wages and tips against them. That checking is far easier in December than in the last week of January.

The federal dates for 2026 wages

• Form W-2 to employees: February 1, 2027. The 2026 IRS instructions say you generally must furnish Copies B, C and 2 to employees by that date.
• Form W-2 Copy A and Form W-3 to the SSA: February 1, 2027, by mail or electronically.
• Form 1099-NEC: February 1, 2027. The rule is January 31, moved to the next business day when that date falls on a weekend or legal holiday. January 31, 2027 is a Sunday. This applies if you paid non-employees, such as independent contractors, for services.

Two more points from the W-2 instructions. If your W-2s and other information returns total at least 10, they must all be e-filed. Extensions are narrow: one extension of time to file with the SSA can be requested, but only in limited, extraordinary circumstances, and an extension to furnish W-2s to employees is not automatic. Plan to meet the date.

December: before the last payroll of the year

1. Confirm every employee’s legal name and SSN match their Social Security card record. The IRS points employers to the SSA’s employer resources for verifying SSNs.
2. Confirm mailing addresses, especially for anyone who has left. Holiday hires who have gone home still need their W-2.
3. Find every terminated employee who was paid at any point in 2026. They get a W-2 too.
4. Reconcile tips for the year. Reported tips belong in Box 1, Box 5 and Box 7 of the W-2, so the tip records in payroll need to match what was reported to you. Collect late declarations now.
5. Check rate and role changes took effect from the correct date, and that bonuses and any holiday pay ran through payroll rather than around it.
6. Confirm deductions still match signed authorizations, and that anyone who changed benefits during the year is correct.
7. List your contractors and collect any missing Form W-9 details before you need to file 1099-NEC forms.
8. Know the last pay date of the year and which run it falls in. The year a payment belongs to is the year it is paid.

January: closing it out

1. Collect December tip reports. Employees report cash tips by the 10th of the following month (unless under $20 for the month), so December’s arrive in January.
2. Review draft W-2s before they are produced. Look for missing employees, zero tip amounts where tips were reported, and obvious address errors.
3. Ask your provider about new tip reporting. The 2026 W-2 instructions include a new Box 12 code, TP, for the total cash tips reported to the employer. Confirm how your payroll provider populates it.
4. Ask about Form 8027 if you run a large food or beverage establishment. Operators of those establishments must file this annual tip-income return. Confirm whether it applies to you, and its due date, with your provider or tax adviser.
5. Confirm who files what, and get confirmation back that each federal and state filing was made.
6. Keep the year’s records together: final payroll registers, tip records and filing confirmations.

State filings

States have their own year-end reconciliations and deadlines, and they do not all match the federal calendar. This checklist does not list them. Confirm Massachusetts and any other state obligations with your payroll provider or tax adviser.

Who does what

On payroll coordination, BOHO works through the checks above with your restaurant, chases missing records and flags exceptions before forms are produced. Your payroll provider produces and files the forms, your tax adviser answers tax questions, and your restaurant approves. The service scope sets out that division of responsibility in full.

If you are changing payroll providers, the year boundary is a natural point to do it. The payroll transition checklist covers what to gather first.

What this is not

This is general operational information, not tax or legal advice. Filing requirements depend on your business and can change. Check dates against the linked IRS sources and confirm your obligations with your payroll provider or tax adviser.