If you worked in a salaried position during 2005, your employer should issue
you a W-2 form for your tax reporting. So, what if you haven't received one?
What To Do If You Didn't Get a W-2
W-2 Forms, known as Wage and Tax Statements, must be issued by employers to
all employers with duplicates being reported to the IRS. W-2 Forms have to be
issued no later than January 31, 2006, which means you should have already
received yours as of the writing of this article.
Notwithstanding this legal requirement, more than a few employers fail to
send out W-2 statements in a timely manner. This is particularly true for small
business, which have a bad habit of being unorganized. There isn't any tactical
advantage to failing to send out W-2 forms, so don't assume the employer is
carrying out a vendetta.
If you haven't received a W-2 Form from an employer, the first step is to
contact the person or business and ask why it hasn't arrived. Keep in mind that
if you've moved since you worked for the employer, the W-2 Form may have been
delivered to the wrong address or returned to the employer. Don't assume the
employer knows where you are.
Once you've spoken with the employer, you'll inevitably be told the form is
in the mail. Give the employer a couple of weeks to get it to you. If it still
doesn't arrive, you can call the IRS for help. Trust me, the IRS is very
interested to learn about companies that are screwing around with anything
related to employee taxes.
If April 15th rolls around and you still don't have a W-2 Form, you should go
ahead and file your tax return anyway. You should have pay stubs lying around
from the job or at least bank statements showing you bimonthly deposits.
Use these to figure out your estimated earnings and withholding. Report them
on Form 4852, which is a substitute for your W-2 forms. Send the form in with
your tax return.
Most employers are good about getting W-2 forms out to employees and
ex-employees. They may be a few days late, but they will get them to you
eventually.
