If you can’t file your 2017 W-2s by January 31, 2018, you can request an extension but it’s not automatic. You must give a reason. Revised instructions lists 4: (1) suffering a catastrophe in a Presidentially-declared disaster area, (2) experiencing a fire, casualty or natural disaster affecting the operation of the business, (3) death, serious illness, or unavoidable absence of the person responsible for filing the forms, or (4) the business was in its first year of operations.