Employers Can Shorten Social Security Numbers on Form W-2: IRS (1)

Employers may voluntarily shorten Social Security numbers on employee copies of W-2 forms, the IRS said in final regulations.

The rules (T.D. 9861), released July 2, are aimed at preventing identity theft. If an employer chooses to shorten its employees’ nine-digit Social Security numbers, the numbers will appear on copies of Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, as truncated taxpayer identification numbers (TTINs).

• The IRS noted that some commenters disagreed with the change because permitting shortened SSNs could have unintended consequences. They said, for example, that it could make it more difficult for tax return ...