I had a company in the state of Nevada that did business in 2004 for a
few months.  We then went out of business.  Are we still required to
send out W-2 forms to our old 2004 employees, even though the company
is not still in business?

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Clarification of Question by ffang2-ga on 04 Mar 2005 23:08 PST

Is there any type of penalty against the owner for not sending out the
W2's even if the company is out of business?

Hi, thank you for submitting your question to Google Answers, I hope I
can provide the information you are seeking.

You didn?t specify if this was a corporation, partnership, or sole
proprietorship but in any case the IRS will get pretty upset if you
don?t send W-2 forms and send the money you withheld.

This site tells you how to shut down a business.

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=98761,00.html

This page is especially for closing procedures.

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=98703,00.html

And here is the link to W2 forms
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw2.pdf

There are various penalties both specified and unspecified for running
afoul of the IRS, such as the informal one of getting your name on the
permanent audit list.

Precisely what penalty you are facing will depend on a lot of factors
so I can?t be specific.

Penalties in general:
http://search.irs.gov/web/query.html?col=irsweb&col=0&col=0&charset=utf-8&ht=0&qp=collection%3Airsweb%2C+-Wct%3A%22Internal+Revenue+Manual%22&qs=&qc=&pw=100%25&ws=0&la=en&qm=0&st=1&nh=10&lk=1&rf=0&oq=&rq=0&si=0&qt=penalties&criterias=1a&Go.x=0&Go.y=0

Specifically for failure to file W2:
http://search.irs.gov/web/query.html?col=irsweb&charset=utf-8&si=0&oq=penalties&mp=penalties&rq=1&qp=collection%3Airsweb%2C+-Wct%3A%22Internal+Revenue+Manual%22&criterias=1a&qt=failure+to+file+w2&Search.x=10&Search.y=5


As for Nevada,
http://www.statelocalgov.net/

http://www.statelocalgov.net/state-nv.cfm

will have the information but you didn?t say whether you actually
lived in Nevada, or what kind of business it was (corporation, etc.)
or, if a corporation where it was incorporated. All of those factors
would help determine if there is a penalty under Nevada law but there
probably is.

Google search term: site:irs.gov company out of business

Thank you again for turning to Google Answers for help.

Sorry I don't have better news for you.