by Terry Featherstone

Created on: December 20, 2009   Last Updated: January 06, 2010

Employers are required to report to you and to the IRS your earnings and withholding for the tax year.  Box 1 contains the amount subject to income tax.  Box 2 contains the amount the employers withheld and sent to the IRS on your behalf for income tax. The Box 2 amount is determined by the W-4 you submitted to your employer when you started working.  YOU determine the amount of withholding, not your employer.   Boxes 3, 4, 5, and 6 concern amounts withheld for Social Security and Medicare.  If you worked for more than one employer during the year, you will receive a separate W-2 form from each employer. 

You will get a W-2 even if you worked less than an hour for an employer.  You may not omit a W-2 because “it’s just a few dollars.” You must report even small amounts of income. Add up the amounts in Boxes 1 and 2 of all your W-2s in order to figure out how close your withholding came to the actual amount of your tax liabilities for the year.  If you paid too much, you will get some of your money back as a refund.  If you did not pay enough, you will have to pay the balance by April 15.

Do not pay any attention if someone suggests you can file your tax return even before your receive your W-2s in order to get an early tax refund. Filing a tax return without a W-2 means preparing what  IRS calls a “substitute W-2” based on your last pay stub of the year. IRS DOES NOT want to see substitute W-2s. 

The IRS expects tax payers to wait for their W-2s.  Some employers prepare and send the W-2s at the same time as they prepare and disburse the last payroll of the tax year.  Other employers prepare W-2s well before the January 31st deadline. They will give you your Form W-2 early if you go ask for it.  Most employers choose to wait until the very last moment to send out the W-2s. 

IRS will not process a tax return with a substitute W-2 until February 14. Part of preparing a substitute W-2 includes reporting to IRS the efforts you made to secure the real W-2 from your employer.  Employers who do not provide every employee with a W-2 are breaking the law.  IRS goes after employers who refuse to provide employees with requested original or corrected W-2s.

Some advisers recommend retaining your W-2s for anywhere from three to seven years.  You should keep them pretty much forever.  It is true, however, that as time passes, you are less and less likely to wish you had kept the W-2s. 

Topic 154 - Form W-2 and Form 1099–R (What to Do if W-2 is Not Received)

If you do not receive your Form W-2 or Form 1099-R by January 31st , or your information is incorrect, contact your employer/payer.

If you do not receive the missing or corrected form by February 14th from your employer/payer, you may call the IRS at 800–829–1040 for assistance. You must provide your name, address (including zip code), phone number, Social Security Number, dates of employment, your employer/payer's name, address (including zip code), and phone number. The IRS will contact the employer/payer for you and request the missing form. IRS will also send you a Form 4852 (PDF), Substitute for Form W-2 or Form 1099-R.

If you do not receive the missing form in sufficient time to file your tax return timely, you may use the Form 4852. If you receive the missing or corrected Form W-2 or Form 1099 after you file your return and a correction is needed, use Form 1040X (PDF), Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return. For additional information on filing an amended return, refer to Topic 308, Amended Returns.

From http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc154.html

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