Getty Images; illustration by Clint Branch/Bankrate
Your W-2 form hasn’t arrived yet, and you’d planned to file your return early. What do you do if you don’t get your annual wage statement?
The IRS requires employers to get workers their earnings information by the end of January, though sometimes there may be a delay of a week or two.
If your Form W-2 never arrives, you can create your own for tax-filing purposes. But before you get started on creating a replacement W-2, consider the following steps.
Check with payroll
If you don’t receive your W-2 by the end of January, contact your employer. Call your company’s payroll office, and make sure the payroll administrator has your correct address. If he or she does and the form was just recently dropped in the mail, you should have it soon.
If it hasn’t been sent out yet, you might be able to walk down to the office and pick up your copy in person, or your employer might provide online access to employees’ W-2s.
If, however, the days roll by and the form is indeed lost or your employer is inordinately slow in issuing a replacement, or you worked for a company that went out of business and there’s no one to bug about getting a W-2, what then?
Don’t panic. You still have options.
Alert the IRS
If you don’t get your W-2 by the end of February, it’s time to involve the IRS. Call the agency at 800-829-1040 with the following information handy, and it will contact your employer and ask for the missing W-2:
- Name, address and phone number
- Social Security or individual tax ID number
- Dates when you worked for the employer
- Employer’s name, address and phone number
The agency will also send you Form 4852, which is a substitute for Form W-2, and which you can use to file your taxes without a W-2.
Fill out Form 4852
If, even after nudging from the IRS, your employer doesn’t send you a replacement W-2 in time for you to file your tax return, you may file using Form 4852 in place of your missing wage statement.
If you can’t get through to the IRS, you can download Form 4852 and fill out the replacement wage statement yourself.
This one-page form, plus a page of instructions, walks you through the W-2 re-creation process. You’ll also have to explain how you got the numbers you entered and describe the efforts you made to get your missing W-2. If you’re missing multiple W-2s, you’ll need a separate Form 4852 for each.
Here’s an overview of the information you’ll need to create a replacement W-2:
- Year’s wages
- Payroll taxes withheld
- Federal and state income taxes withheld
- Contributions to your company retirement/401(k) plan
- Employer’s tax identification number
The easiest place to find this information is on your last pay stub. The stub also should show the employer information: company name, address and possibly the employer identification number, or EIN. If the EIN isn’t on a pay stub and you received a W-2 from the errant employer in prior years, the tax number will be on the old statements. You don’t have to have the EIN, but it will help when the IRS processes your return.
After you complete the form, attach it to your tax return in place of your missing W-2. A copy of Form 4852 also should satisfy your state tax collector. Be aware, though, that using Form 4852 instead of an original W-2 may delay your refund while the IRS verifies the information you provided.
In cases where an employer has filed for bankruptcy or ceased operations, they are still required to send you a W-2. Make sure to keep up-to-date records and pay stubs and, if you don’t receive a W-2, contact the IRS.
And if you get your W-2 but it’s incorrect, ask your employer to correct it. If they don’t do this by the end of February, call the IRS or set up an appointment at the IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center (find the details on this IRS page) so that the agency can contact your employer and request the corrected W-2 and also send you Form 4852.
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