I'm Missing a W-2 - Now What?

By Top Tax Staff | Feb 17, 2016 7:30:00 AM | Tax Tips and Help

    

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You need your W-2 to file your income taxes. Your employer has until January 31 to get it into the mail to you. It typically will arrive in your mailbox just a few days later.

However, when several days have gone by and you still have yet to receive your wage and tax statement from your employer, you may wonder what steps you should take next to make sure you can still file your taxes. You should follow these four important steps if you are missing your W-2 and want to file your income tax return.

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Contact Your Employer

The first step you should take involves contacting your employer's payroll department. Along with letting them know that you are missing this important earning and tax statement, you can also find out if it had been sent back or labeled undeliverable by the post office.

W-2s are commonly sent back to employers because of issues like wrong addresses or even incorrect names on the mailing labels. If yours has been sent back to your employer, you can correct the information and ask that the company mail it out to you again.

Contact the IRS

If you have no luck contacting your employer, you should next contact the IRS. When you call the IRS, you will need to have certain information on hand to verify your taxpayer details. This information include:

  • Your full legal name
  • Your mailing address and zip code
  • Your Social Security number
  • Your employer's full name
  • Your employer's address
  • The dates of your employment
  • An estimate of how much money you earned during your employment

You can call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 or use the contact options on IRS.gov.

File Your Taxes Anyway

You may believe that because you did not get your W-2 that you do not have to file taxes yet. However, you are still obligated to file your return even without this important earning and tax statement.

To file without your W-2, you should print off Form 4852 from the IRS' website. This form allows you to recreate to some degree your W-2 and also lets you legally file your taxes. After you complete the form, you should then attach and submit it with your return.

If you do not feel comfortable filing with the Form 4852, you could request a filing extension from the IRS. If approved, this extension will allow you to file up to six months past the April 15 deadline. You can request an extension by accessing the proper form on IRS.gov.

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Amend Your Taxes

Once you receive your W-2 from your employer, it is important that you remember to amend your taxes if any of the information on your return is wrong. Amending your taxes allows the IRS to give you the proper refund amount. It also could indicate if and how much money you might owe to the government.

Amending your taxes is possible by downloading and completing the IRS Form 1040X. This form can be found on the IRS' website. Once you complete it, you should submit it along with a copy of your W-2.

Your employer has to the end of January to send you a copy of your W-2 earning and tax statement. You need this statement to file your taxes.

If you have yet to receive it and want to file your income tax return, you may wonder what options are available to you. These four simple yet important steps allow you to get another copy of your W-2 and also file your tax return until your statement arrives in the mail.

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