If you’ve noticed on your tax returns that you can’t deduct your W-2 job expenses for 2018, you’re partially correct. Unfortunately, not everyone can claim their out-of-pocket job expenses.
Here’s the breakdown.
The new tax laws have narrowed down on who claims their W-2 job expenses, mainly by their occupation.
You can only deduct your job expenses if you’re one of the following: (more…)
For taxpayers who are receiving a refund, there’s absolutely nothing to worry about! The IRS does not attach penalties to late returns that have refunds. On the other hand, if you had a tax due to the IRS, you must have paid your taxes to the IRS by the tax deadline which was April 17, 2018 or you will be subject to penalties.
Read on to find out the steps you need to take in order to file your return.
E-filing your tax return these days is pretty straightforward. You just plug in the numbers on your W-2 to the online tax application, take the credits and deductions you’re entitled to, and VOILA! Couldn’t be simpler.
But what happens if you don’t have a W-2? Suddenly things get a lot more complicated. Don’t worry. There are steps to take to make sure you get your tax return to the IRS.
First thing’s first. Make every attempt to get the actual document itself. If your employer didn’t send you one, or sent you one that was incorrect, contact them and request that they send you the right one.
Employers are required to have W-2 forms issued to their employees by January 31. If you still don’t have it by then, it’s time to take additional action. At this point you should call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 and tell them about your missing W-2. They will call your employer and tell them to send you the W-2.
If you realized you lost a prior year W-2, there’s still hope. The process to get a copy of a W-2 can be fairly simple. In order to receive a copy of your prior year W-2, you have three options. After requesting the W-2 , create an account and start preparing your late tax return on Prior Tax. Your Dedicated Tax Professional will guide you from start to finish in filing your taxes.
The easiest way to get a copy of a lost W-2, is to contact the employer who issued it. The payroll department of your employer (or former employer) should be saving important tax information, such as W-2s. Ask for the W-2 to be sent to you. This process is pretty simple and shouldn’t take much time.
Have you asked your employer for your W-2 and noticed that he mentally added the task to the very bottom of his To-Do list? If you know that your employer (or past employer) uses a payroll provider instead of calculating payroll in-office, skip the middleman and give the company a call yourself. When you call, be prepared to verify your SSN or employee number as they may ask for it. While speaking to the payroll provider, you may want to confirm the following:
If you only need the federal information that was reported on your W-2 (not an actual copy), then you’ll file form 4506-T to the IRS for free. For state withholding amounts, you will need to contact your state department of revenue.
The box you will need to make sure that is checked off is titled “Form W-2, Form 1099 series, Form 1098 series, or Form 5498 series transcript.” This alternative may be more time-consuming than reaching out to an employer. However, it requires NO hunting down of past employers to get them to spare a nano-second of their time.
“Something suddenly came up.” Those were the immortal words with which Marcia Brady famously broke off a date. But they could just as easily describe why lots of taxpayers fail to file a return every year – April sneaks up on you and then, well, something suddenly comes up.
And if you’re a procrastinator, and have put off filing your late taxes for a while, it’s not hard to misplace the important tax documents that you need to file. Once that happens, even if you want to file, how can you possibly get right with the IRS?
Never fear. There are many ways to retrieve copies of the necessary tax documents.
Anyone who worked as an employee somewhere will need a copy of their W-2 [Wage and Tax Statement] in order to file. Thankfully employers are required to keep a copy for at least four years. So if you’ve lost yours, you may be able to get a copy from them. (more…)
