That's a really good point I hadn't considered. I know she's also "managing" his student loans and I wonder if there's other financial stuff happening. I'll suggest he check his credit report right away. I think the hardest part of this situation is that his mom is definitely the one who provided these fake numbers, but she's maintaining complete innocence. Makes me wonder what else she's doing with his finances.

Yeah, unfortunately I've seen this pattern before with family members. Often there's a broader pattern of financial manipulation going on. Student loans are definitely another red flag - make sure he logs in directly to studentaid.gov to see exactly what loans are in his name. I'd also recommend he create an IRS online account at irs.gov to view his tax transcripts directly. This will show all returns filed in his name and any other tax activity. He might discover even more issues.

The Voluntary Disclosure Program is really for major tax fraud cases where criminal prosecution is likely - typically involving offshore accounts, unreported income in the six figures, etc. This case sounds bad but probably doesn't rise to that level.

If you do file an extension, do you know if that increases your chances of being audited? I've heard mixed things about this.

Filing an extension doesn't increase your audit risk at all. That's actually a common tax myth. The IRS has officially stated that filing an extension doesn't affect your chances of being audited. In fact, extensions are incredibly common - millions of people file them every year for all sorts of reasons. It's a routine process that the IRS expects. What can increase audit risk is filing an inaccurate return or having to amend later, so in that sense, waiting for correct documentation is actually the safer approach.

This is good advice. Also worth noting that employers are required by law to provide corrected W-2s within a reasonable timeframe. If they're really dragging their feet, mentioning this requirement can sometimes light a fire under them.

Does anybody know which brokerages are good about reporting cost basis correctly? I'm with Fidelity now but thinking about switching.

In my experience, Fidelity is actually one of the better ones for correctly reporting cost basis to the IRS. Vanguard and Charles Schwab also tend to be reliable with their reporting. The issues I've seen most often come from newer trading platforms and especially crypto exchanges, which sometimes have incomplete reporting systems. TD Ameritrade (now part of Schwab) has been solid in my experience too. The key thing to look for is whether your year-end tax documents clearly show both proceeds and cost basis for each transaction. If you see "cost basis not reported to the IRS" footnotes on your 1099-B, that's a red flag that you might face the exact situation the original poster is dealing with.

This happened to me too. How long did it take to resolve once you sent in your documentation?

This is exactly what happened with my ex. He tried to claim our kid on his unemployment to get the higher benefit amount, knowing a portion would be garnished for the back support he owed. Kind of sneaky but at least some money was coming to support the child.

Thanks for this advice! I've never heard of an IP PIN before. Does having this PIN slow down my refund processing at all? And do I need to get a new one every year or is it a one-time thing?

The IP PIN doesn't slow down your refund processing at all - it actually helps prevent delays because it verifies upfront that you are the legitimate filer. The IRS knows immediately that your return is the valid one. Yes, you do need a new IP PIN each year. The IRS issues new ones every January, and they'll mail it to you automatically once you're in the program. You can also retrieve it online through the IRS website. It's a small hassle to keep track of a new number each year, but definitely worth it for the protection it provides.

This is really good advice. How do you get the wage and income transcript? Can you do it online or do you have to mail a request?