Hey Sean! I actually had a very similar situation with a short-term job where the employer never sent my W-2. Here's what I learned from the experience: First, definitely try contacting the coffee shop one more time - sometimes small businesses are just disorganized rather than deliberately ignoring you. If that doesn't work, you have a few good options: 1. Call the IRS at 800-829-1040 (as Zara mentioned) - they can contact the employer and help you get Form 4852 2. File Form 4852 yourself using your last paystub - this is totally legitimate and the IRS accepts it as a W-2 substitute Since you mentioned you're expecting a refund from other jobs, you'll definitely want to include this income to avoid any issues later. Even though the amount is small, the IRS systems do flag missing W-2s when they have records from employers. The key is having your last paystub - it shows your total earnings and any withholdings, which is exactly what would be on your W-2. Don't stress too much about it, this happens more often than you'd think and there are established processes to handle it!

Sean, I completely understand your anxiety about this situation! As someone who's dealt with similar W-2 issues, I want to reassure you that this is more common than you think and there are clear solutions. Since you only worked there for a week and it's been months without receiving your W-2, I'd recommend going straight to Form 4852 (substitute W-2) rather than spending more time trying to chase down the coffee shop. You have your paystub showing the $368.45 earnings, which contains all the information you need. Here's the key thing - even though you're under the filing threshold, if ANY federal taxes were withheld from that paycheck, you absolutely want to report it to get that money back as part of your refund. Don't let a small employer's disorganization cost you your own money! The IRS systems do cross-reference employer-reported wages with individual tax returns, so including this income protects you from potential notices later. Form 4852 is the official IRS process for exactly this situation, and thousands of people use it every year without issues. You've got this - it's just a bit of extra paperwork, not a major tax crisis!

Just wanted to share that I had a similar situation with about 45 trades of Microsoft stock last year, many with wash sales. I ended up attaching a spreadsheet that listed all individual transactions but then summarized them on Form 8949. The key is to make sure your attached statement has ALL the same column headings as Form 8949 (description of property, date acquired, date sold, proceeds, cost basis, adjustment code W for wash sales, adjustment amount, and gain/loss). Then on Form 8949 itself, you can put "See attached statement" in column (a) and just put the totals in the remaining columns.

Great question about e-filing vs paper filing! When you e-file, most tax software will automatically include the detailed transaction data electronically, so you typically don't need to separately attach a statement. The software handles the wash sale reporting requirements behind the scenes. However, if you're consolidating trades on Form 8949 (putting "See attached statement" in column a), you should still create and keep that detailed statement for your records, even when e-filing. Some tax preparers recommend uploading it as a supporting document through the software just to be safe. The main difference is that with paper filing, you physically attach the statement to your return, while with e-filing, the transaction details are transmitted electronically as part of your return data. Either way, the IRS gets the information they need to verify your wash sale adjustments. @StarSurfer - based on all the discussion here, it sounds like you'll need to either list each wash sale transaction individually on Form 8949, or create a detailed supplemental statement with all transactions and just put totals on the form. Given that you mentioned 30+ transactions, the supplemental statement approach will probably save you a lot of form space!

I went through this exact nightmare about 6 months ago and it was incredibly frustrating! What finally worked for me was creating a spreadsheet tracking every single paycheck with the incorrect withholding amounts, then calculating the total dollar impact. I presented this to my manager (not just HR) with a clear subject line like "Payroll System Error Costing Me $X in Incorrect Tax Withholding." Getting management involved made all the difference - suddenly HR couldn't just brush it off as "not their problem." My manager forwarded my documentation directly to whoever handles their ADP relationship, and it got resolved within two weeks. One thing I learned is that you absolutely should NOT have to wait until tax season to get this money back. The incorrect withholdings should be refunded through payroll corrections, not through your tax return. Don't let them tell you otherwise - that's just them trying to avoid dealing with it properly. Also, make sure you get confirmation in writing once they say it's fixed. I thought mine was resolved but it took three more paychecks before the correct county code actually showed up. Keep checking every paycheck until you see Jefferson County listed instead of Madison County!

I'm dealing with almost the exact same situation right now! My employer has been withholding taxes for the wrong county for about 4 months, and like you, HR initially tried to tell me it was my responsibility to figure out. What's really frustrating is that they act like this is some rare, impossible-to-fix issue when clearly from this thread it happens all the time with ADP systems. Reading through all these responses has been incredibly helpful - I had no idea about the "tax location code verification" terminology or that I could escalate directly to my manager with a dollar impact analysis. I've been way too passive about this, just politely asking HR to "look into it" every few weeks. I'm going to try the approach mentioned by @Kendrick Webb about getting documentation from my county assessor's website first, then presenting that to HR with the specific request for tax location code verification. And if that doesn't work, I'll definitely escalate to my manager with a detailed spreadsheet like @Caleb Stone suggested. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences - it's good to know I'm not crazy for thinking this should be fixable! Will update once I make some progress.

This has been such a helpful thread to read through! I'm relatively new to investing and had the exact same confusion about short-term capital gains. I actually spent way too much time on the IRS website trying to figure this out and just ended up more confused. The explanation that really clicked for me is that the IRS has very specific definitions for "earned income" - it's literally income you earn through your work/labor. Everything else falls into the "unearned income" bucket, regardless of how much time or effort you put into it. I had about $2,800 in short-term gains last year and was planning to factor that into my IRA contribution calculations. So glad I found this discussion before making that mistake! It would have been a costly error since you can only contribute based on actual earned income from work. The practical implications are really eye-opening too. I use TurboTax and it does group short-term gains with W-2 income for tax rate purposes, which definitely contributed to my confusion about income classification. Thanks to everyone who took the time to explain this so clearly! This is way more helpful than anything I found in the official IRS publications.

This thread has been incredibly enlightening! As someone who just started investing this year, I was making the exact same mistake of thinking that short-term capital gains might count as earned income since they're taxed at ordinary rates. The distinction everyone's explained makes perfect sense now - "earned income" literally means income you earned through your labor/work, while "unearned income" includes all investment returns regardless of how actively you manage them or how much research you do. I really appreciate how everyone broke down the practical implications too. I was planning to base some of my retirement contribution calculations on my total income including trading gains, but now I understand that only my W-2 wages would actually qualify as earned income for IRA purposes. The "two buckets" approach mentioned earlier is brilliant - I'm definitely going to start tracking earned vs unearned income separately throughout the year to avoid confusion during tax season. It's clear this distinction affects way more than just the tax rate on the gains themselves. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences and explanations! This is exactly the kind of practical tax guidance that's so hard to find elsewhere, especially explained in terms that actually make sense to newer investors like us.

I'm dealing with the exact same thing right now! Filed my 2024 return about 10 days ago and seeing that "INFO" status with the adjustment message. My previous years also show $0.00 balances just like yours. It's frustrating not knowing what's going on, but reading through these comments is making me feel a lot better about it. Sounds like this is just normal processing delays during busy season rather than an actual problem. Going to try to be patient and wait the full 21 days before calling, though it's tempting to keep checking every day! Thanks for posting this question - really helpful to know I'm not the only one experiencing this.

I experienced this exact same issue a few weeks ago! The "INFO" status with the adjustment message had me really worried at first, especially since I couldn't remember requesting any adjustments either. But after reading through IRS documentation and talking to their customer service, I learned this is actually their standard message whenever your account information is being updated or verified - not necessarily because you requested an adjustment. What helped me was understanding that the IRS uses "adjustment" pretty broadly to include things like: - Matching your W-2s and 1099s with employer submissions - Verifying credits you claimed (like EITC or Child Tax Credit) - Running standard fraud prevention checks - Just routine processing delays due to high volume The fact that your 2021-2023 years show clean $0.00 balances is actually a really good indicator that there are no compliance issues with your account. My transcript cleared up after about 2.5 weeks and showed my actual refund amount. One tip: if you have direct deposit set up, keep an eye on your bank account too. Sometimes refunds get processed before the transcript fully updates, so you might see the money before the transcript shows the final status. Hang in there - this seems to be way more common this year than usual!