Can undocumented workers pay payroll taxes using Form W-2 without a Social Security number?

1. Who is in the workforce — and why this question matters

Roughly millions of people without lawful status are employed across critical sectors — the Center for Migration Studies and other advocacy reporting estimate millions of undocumented or liminal-status workers in construction, agriculture, service and health sectors, and groups like FWD.us and the American Immigration Council quantify large workforce impacts when legal protections change ^{[2] [1] [3]}. That large footprint explains why practical tax‑filing mechanics — W‑2s, SSNs, ITINs, employer reporting — are a live issue for workers, unions and employers trying to balance tax compliance with immigration risk ^{[3] [1]}.

2. What available reporting says about taxes and undocumented labor

The materials in the search set repeatedly state that undocumented immigrants are working and paying taxes, and that employers and labor groups are adjusting practices to protect workers amid heightened enforcement ^{[1] [4] [5]}. FWD.us and immigration‑policy reporting highlight how changes in status and enforcement remove work authorizations for hundreds of thousands, which in turn affects payroll and the economy — but none of the supplied items provide a step‑by‑step explanation of W‑2 completion when an SSN is missing ^{[3] [2]}.

3. The legal/administrative gap in these sources

Federal tax procedures and IRS rules about SSNs, ITINs and Forms W‑2 are technical; the current search results do not include IRS, Treasury, or Social Security Administration guidance and therefore do not answer the core procedural question. Because no source in this set cites IRS rules or shows a labeled example of a W‑2 filed without an SSN, available sources do not mention whether an employer may legally issue a W‑2 without a worker SSN or whether an ITIN may be used on a W‑2 in place of an SSN (not found in current reporting).

4. What journalists and advocates are focusing on instead

Coverage in the set centers on the human and economic effects of enforcement: unions and employers are strategizing to shield workers from ICE and retain labor in essential industries, and organizations document millions affected when temporary protections end ^{[4] [5] [3]}. Analysts and think tanks quantify workforce shares in construction, agriculture and services — the practical tax question is often framed as part of broader worker‑protection and economic‑stability debates rather than as a narrow procedural FAQ ^{[2] [6]}.

5. Competing perspectives and implicit agendas in the reporting

Advocacy outlets emphasize the contribution of undocumented workers to the economy and the harms of enforcement and status removal ^{[1] [2]}. Labor‑oriented reporting highlights union and employer efforts to protect workers from ICE ^{[4] [5]}. Other items in the search set (policy trackers, legal‑practice alerts) reflect institutional concerns about immigration policy changes and employer compliance costs, signaling that different actors prioritize worker safety, fiscal compliance, or immigration enforcement — agendas that shape which questions each outlet addresses ^{[3] [7]}.

6. What a reader should do next to get a definitive procedural answer

Because the provided sources do not include IRS or SSA guidance, readers should consult authoritative tax and Social Security guidance: the IRS publishes rules on SSNs, Employer Identification Number use, and ITINs; the Social Security Administration explains SSN issuance and when employers should request numbers. For workplace‑safety and labor‑rights context, the NLRB materials in the set make clear that immigration status does not bar an employee from NLRA protections, which may be relevant to workers deciding whether to engage with employers or agencies ^[8]. The current reporting does not supply the IRS/SSA procedural text needed to resolve the original W‑2/SSN question (not found in current reporting).