Updated October 19, 2026. Quick answer: Form W-2c is the corrected Wage and Tax Statement, and boxes c to i are the identification half of it. Box c names the year and the form being corrected, and boxes d to i carry the employee’s correct Social Security number, any previously reported number or name, the correct name and the address. The Notice to Employee on the form says it is a corrected Form W-2 for the tax year shown in box c.
What boxes c to i report
Form W-2c replaces or fixes a wage statement that was already issued. The Notice to Employee printed on the form says so directly: “This is a corrected Form W-2” “for the tax year shown in box c.” That is why box c sits first among the employee boxes. Before you compare a single amount, box c tells you which year’s statement is being fixed.
Below box c the form sets out a short run of identification boxes. Box d carries the correct number, box e is a check box that flags a name or number change, boxes f and g repeat what was wrongly filed before, and boxes h and i hold the correct name and address. The money boxes that follow are covered on Form W-2c boxes 1 to 20, and what to do with your copy is on the Notice to Employee on Form W-2c.
Each identification box in the IRS instructions
The table gives the label the form prints for each box next to the sentence the employer instructions use for it. These instructions are written for the employer who prepares the form, so read them as a description of what the box is supposed to contain on your copy.
| Box | Label printed on the form | What the employer instructions say |
|---|---|---|
| c | “Tax year/Form corrected” | “If you are correcting Form W-2, enter all four digits of the year of the form you are correcting.” |
| d | “Employee’s correct SSN” | “You must enter the employee’s correct SSN even if it was correct on the original Form W-2.” |
| e | “Corrected SSN and/or name.” | “Check this box only if you are correcting the employee’s SSN, name, or both SSN and name.” |
| f | “Employee’s previously reported SSN” | “Complete this box if you are correcting an employee’s previously reported incorrect SSN and/or name.” |
| g | “Employee’s previously reported name” | “You must enter the employee’s previously reported full name in box g exactly as it was previously reported.” |
| h | “Employee’s first name and initial” | “Always enter the employee’s correct name.” |
| i | “Employee’s address and ZIP code” | “Always enter the employee’s correct address.” |
Notice that box d is always filled in. The employer instructions say the correct number goes there even when it was never wrong, so a number in box d does not by itself mean your number was corrected. Box e is the signal. When it is checked, boxes f and g show what had been reported before.
Box c: the year and the kind of form
Box c holds two pieces of information, a year and a form designation. For an ordinary corrected wage statement, the instructions say: “If you are correcting Form W-2, enter all four digits of the year of the form you are correcting.” For the territory versions of the form, and for a form that was itself a correction, they add: “If you are correcting Form W-2AS, W-2CM, W-2GU, W-2VI, or W-2c, enter all four digits of the year you are correcting”. The printed form shows the year entry followed by a slash and the letters W-2 for the ordinary case.
If the year in box c is not the year of the return you are working on, you have a correction for a different year. That affects which return, if any, the Notice to Employee tells you to look at. The form’s own wording is that the corrected amounts apply to “the tax year shown in box c”.
Boxes d to g: when the number or name was wrong
When the correction is about the Social Security number, the instructions tie the boxes together: “If you are correcting an employee’s SSN, you must also complete boxes e through i.” Box e, in turn, points back: “You must also complete boxes d and f through i.”
The form prints a reminder just above boxes f and g: “Complete boxes f and/or g only if incorrect on form previously filed:” For an earlier filing that carried blanks, the instructions give a convention for box f. They say “If the previous SSN was reported as blanks or not available, then box f should be all zeros.” Box g works the same way: “If the previously reported name was reported as blanks or not available, then box g should be all blanks.”
A correction of only the name or number
Some corrected statements change nothing about pay. For those, the employer instructions explain how the form is completed: “If you are correcting only an employee’s name and/or SSN, complete Form W-2c boxes d through i.” “Do not complete boxes 1 through 20.” The same passage gives the employer a separate task: “Advise your employee to correct the SSN and/or name on their original Form W-2.”
So a W-2c with only boxes d to i filled in and blank money boxes is not an error. It is the form the instructions describe for a name or number fix.
The instructions also cover a name change after a new card is issued: “file a Form W-2c to correct the name/SSN reported on the most recently filed Form W-2.” “It is not necessary to correct the prior years if the previous name and number were used for the years prior to the most recently filed Form W-2.”
The note about money fields
Directly beneath the identification boxes the form prints a note that governs everything below it: “Note: Only complete money fields that are being corrected.” The note also carries an exception for government employers, which points to the instructions for boxes 5 and 6. Because of this note, many boxes on your copy will be empty. An empty money box means that item is not part of the correction, not that the amount was zero. Each money box and how its previously reported and correct columns work is explained on Form W-2c boxes 1 to 20.
Address corrections
Box i is the place where an address fix shows up. The employer instructions treat an address problem differently from a name or number problem. For a form already filed with the Social Security Administration they say: “do not file Form W-2c with the SSA merely to correct the address.” They then describe options for the copy the employee gets, one of which reads “Issue a Form W-2c to the employee that shows the correct address in box i and all other correct information.” If your copy shows only a changed address, this is why.
Edition and box numbers
The form read for this page is Form W-2c (Rev. 1-2026), the January 2026 edition, together with the 2026 General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3. Check the year and edition printed on the form you received, because box numbers can change between editions.
Common mistakes
- Reading a filled-in box d as proof the number was changed. The instructions say “You must enter the employee’s correct SSN even if it was correct on the original Form W-2.”
- Expecting amounts on a name-only correction. The instructions for that case say “Do not complete boxes 1 through 20.”
- Treating blank money boxes as zeros. The form’s note is “Only complete money fields that are being corrected.”
Related: the difference between W-2 boxes 1, 3 and 5, W-2 box 1, Form 1040 line 1a, and Form 1040-X.
Sources
- Form W-2c, Corrected Wage and Tax Statement (Rev. January 2026), with Notice to Employee: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw2c.pdf
- General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3 (including Forms W-2c and W-3c): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/iw2w3.pdf
- IRS: About Form W-2c: https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-w-2-c
Read from the IRS documents linked above on October 19, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the account provider or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.