Missing Your W-2 Form, Corrected W-2s, and Multiple W-2s

The IRS suggests allowing up to two weeks for mailed forms to reach you, so you may not receive your form until February 14th. While you are waiting, you can...

• Ask your employer if and when the form was mailed.
• Check to make sure your employer has your correct mailing address. Verify the spelling and street abbreviation to make sure that your W-2 wasn't misdelivered.
• Request another copy.
• Ask your employer if you have the option to import your W-2 information. If they have made imports available, they will give you the information required to import your W-2.  

TurboTax will guide you through importing.  Once you receive your W-2, always make sure that everything on your W-2 matches what you imported into TurboTax. 

If your employer sends a W-2C after you import your W-2, make sure you change the imported W-2 information to the "corrected information" column on your W-2C. You can change the information directly in TurboTax.

Tip: If your employer went out of business, it's possible that your W-2 form was not mailed. You may be able to contact the U.S. Postal Service and complete a form to request the employer's forwarding address. Once you get this information, you could send a certified letter requesting a copy of your W-2.

If it's past February 14 and you still don't have your W-2:

1. Call the IRS for assistance at 800-829-1040. When calling, be ready to give the following information: 

• Your name, address and Social Security number.
• Your employer's name, address, city, state, zip code and telephone number, even if your employer has gone out of business.
• Dates of employment.
• An estimate of the wages you earned and the federal income tax withheld. Your estimate should be based on your final pay stub of the year or earnings statement, if available.

    The IRS will call the employer and advise them to send you your W-2s.

2. Request or download Form 4506-T. You will receive W-2 transcripts which will have information reported by your employer to the IRS free of charge. Call (800)829-1040 to obtain the form.

3. Request Form 4852 from the IRS or download it and mail it in.  Form 4852 is a substitute W-2. You are allowed to estimate your wages based on your final paystub. TurboTax can guide you through filling out Form 4852.

If you do file your taxes using Form 4852, you will have to amend your return once you receive your W-2 or W-2C if amounts on the forms are different from the filed Form 4852.

Ask your employer for a replacement, also known as a “reissued statement” or W-2C (corrected). Keep in mind that the employer can charge you a fee for the new form.

If your name, Social Security number, or any dollar amount is incorrect, ask your employer to issue a corrected W-2. Your employer will give you a copy of the corrected W-2 (W-2C) and send a corrected copy to the Social Security Administration.

Your employer (or your employer's payroll company) will send you a W-2C if information reported on your original W-2 needs to be corrected.

Form W-2C typically reports information in two columns: "previously reported" and "correct information". You will need to make sure that the information from the "correct information" column on your W-2C is what is ultimately reported as your W-2 information.

If you already imported your uncorrected W-2, you may need to edit your W-2 in TurboTax to match the "correct information" column on your W-2C.

Carefully compare your imported W-2 in TurboTax to your W-2C to verify that TurboTax has received the corrected information. If a change is necessary, you can enter the change directly on your W-2 in TurboTax.

You can e-file your return with a W-2C. However, you cannot e-file your return if you use a substitute W-2. You must print the form, fill it out and mail it to the IRS along with your return. 

Should your employer send you a W-2 or W-2C after you file that differs from what you estimated, you should amend your return.

If a W-2C was issued by your employer to correct information on your original W-2 then only enter the information from the W-2C.

If, however, you have a W-2 from one employer and a W-2C from another employer, then enter both W-2s. TurboTax will total the income from both employers.

There are circumstances where an employer issues a second W-2 although income amounts are duplicated.

Generally, only file one W-2 if:

• All of the fields in the W-2 are exactly the same.
• Employer only issued a duplicate W-2 to report more than four items in box 12.
• Your employer issued more than one W-2 to report employment in different states. Caution: Many people duplicate their income when given W-2s for multiple states.

Generally, if you have 3 W-2s from the same employer, with different amounts on them you may have to enter all of the amounts. TurboTax will guide you through entering more than one W-2 and will total your income from all W-2s.

You may need to file multiple W-2s if:

• You work different jobs through a placement or temp agency and receive multiple W-2s with different amounts from the same payroll provider with the same Employer Identification Number.
• Your employer changes outside payroll or placement agencies that pay you and you receive more than one W-2 with different Employer Identification Numbers and income amounts.
• Your employer was purchased or taken over by another company.
• You are paid by different divisions within your company or subsidiaries and your W-2s have different Employer Identification Numbers.
• Your employer wants to report another type of compensation for instance reimbursement for employment business expenses.

If the Employer Identification Numbers, names and addresses of your employer are the same on all of your W-2s you may need to contact the payroll department to find out why all three of them have different amounts. 

If there is an error, the payroll department will have to issue a corrected W-2.

The IRS can provide you with prior-year W-2 information free of charge, or you can order a transcript for $57, which includes a copy of your prior-year W-2. Click here for IRS procedures.

You can also obtain prior-year W-2s, sometimes free of charge, from the Social Security Administration. Click here for SSA procedures.