Our nonresident employee got both a W-2 and a 1042-S. Did payroll mess up?
At first glance it looked like obvious duplication, but the payroll team says both forms can exist in the same file when treaty-exempt wages and state withholding overlap. I want to believe them, but I also know that payroll teams sometimes defend confusing files by saying 'that is just how the system works.'
I need to know whether the coexistence of both forms can actually be legitimate and, if so, what specific logic should explain it. If there is no coherent reason, I want to catch that before we normalize a reporting error.
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