How To Perforate Paper

Jan 08, 2006 1 Replies

While QB can produce perfectly acceptable W-2s, the government, for some unknown reason (possibly having to do with NSA intercepts or New England Milk Subsidies), requires each copy to be perforated from its neighbor and all three copies given to the employee unseparated. (Since this requirement of non-separation was implemented, exactly zero persons have gone to federal prison.)



Anyway, the regulation implies you can't use scissors - you have to have perforations.



You can buy pre-printed, and perforated, W2 sets from Office Depot. Something like 100 for $20.



You can buy blank, pre-perforated paper somewhere.



You can also make your own perforated paper.



Go to the crafts and sewing section of Walmart. Buy a "Dritz 45mm Rotary Cutter." I paid $9.96. Picture here:

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The Dritz gizmo looks like a pizza slicer with a VERY sharp wheel. It is used to cut fabric and, as it turns out, paper.



Remove the blade (easy to do, the blades are designed to be replaceable).



Clamp the blade in a vise or hold with a pair of pliers while you use your Dremel tool with a Carbide wheel to cut a notch every 1/8" around the circumference. The notch should be 1/16" to 1/8th inch deep. Trivial job - takes two minutes. And it doesn't have to be perfect. Re-assemble the tool.



You're now ready to put your printed W2s (1-4 at a time) on a bit of cardboard or five or so blank sheets of paper and perforate by rolling the wheel, with some downward pressure, across the stack.



My first attempt was adequate, but my line was a bit wavy. The next set was done using a stick as a guide/fence. Works swell.



Set the tool aside for use next year. .


To tell you the truth after taking to my friend I feel like a jerk for ever suggesting that an employer can use a pair of scissors to separate the different employee copies of form W-2. During a recent telephone conversation, my friend told me that his wife (a trained forensic scientist) started working for the CSI division of the IRS.

According to his wife, each W-2 that is attached to form 1040 is removed and sent to the CSI laboratories there under a powerful electron microscope they determine if the separation from the other copies was made by a pull or cut. The test is 100% accurate and if is proven that a cut was indeed made, the IRS will send out their goons and jelly the balls of those responsible.

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