While a W-2 can be useful for tracking employee information, it itself is not particularly useful for confirming an employee’s SSN. However, it can be used as an opportunity to take other methods to verify that the information is correct.
Employers are responsible for ensuring all information on W-2 forms is correct before sending them off to the Social Security Administration (SSA). According to the SSA, typos and transcription errors are common on W-2 forms, so performing a SSN check at hiring can help you to verify all of your employees’ SSNs for W-2 purposes, so you’ll never need to double check again when submitting employee information to the SSA. You can still give your employees one more opportunity to double check the information and correct any errors before you submit the paperwork.