Do I need to include my second job on tax return even if I didn't earn any income from it?

But what if the company accidentally sends me a W-2 next month showing $0 income? Should I amend my return then? I'm worried about this looking suspicious to the IRS.

If you receive a W-2 showing $0 income, you don't need to amend your return. A zero-dollar W-2 doesn't change your tax situation since there's no income to report. The IRS systems may note that you received a W-2 from that employer, but since it shows no taxable income, it won't trigger any concerns. The IRS is primarily concerned with unreported income, not reported zero income. As long as you've correctly included all your actual income from other sources, you're in compliance with tax requirements.

How does it work with multiple W-2s though? I have 3 jobs and all the tax software I've tried makes me manually enter each one.

Does it actually solve problems like this or just tell you what to do? I've tried other "AI" tax tools and they just gave generic advice that I could find on Google.

For multiple W-2s, it handles them all at once - you just upload them and it extracts all the info automatically instead of typing everything in manually. It separates each W-2 and organizes them properly in your return. It actually solves the problems rather than just giving advice. When I had that zero income W-2 situation, it specifically flagged it and explained that since there was no income reported, I didn't need to include it in my final return. It's much more specific than generic Google advice because it's analyzing your actual documents.

How does this actually work? The IRS phone lines are always jammed. Does this really get you through faster or is it just another service that puts you on hold?

Yeah right. Nothing gets you through to the IRS faster. I'll believe it when I see it. The IRS doesn't give priority to people using third-party services.

It doesn't put you on hold - that's the whole point! It uses a system that continuously calls the IRS for you and only connects you when it reaches a human agent. So instead of you personally sitting on hold for hours, their system does the waiting, then calls you when an agent is on the line. The IRS doesn't know you're using a service - you're just receiving a regular call when an agent is available. There's no priority line or special treatment, just technology that handles the frustrating hold process so you don't have to. I was connected in about 25 minutes when I had been trying for days on my own with no success.

Thanks for your insight from the payroll perspective! That makes me feel better. One quick follow-up - if I filled out a W-4 for that second job but never actually worked, would that still be in the system somewhere that the IRS could see?

A W-4 is just an internal document that employers use to calculate withholding. It isn't sent to the IRS, so there's no record of it in the IRS system. The IRS only receives information when income is actually paid to you and reported on forms like W-2s or 1099s. Even if you filled out all the new hire paperwork including I-9, direct deposit forms, and a W-4, if no wages were ever paid, the IRS has no visibility into that employment relationship. Your employer keeps those documents for their records, but nothing gets transmitted to the IRS without actual compensation being paid.

Smart move getting it in writing. Did you keep that documentation with your tax records? I'm wondering how long I should hang onto stuff like this.

Yes, I kept the email with my tax records for that year. The IRS generally recommends keeping tax records for at least 3 years after filing (or 2 years from when you paid the tax, whichever is later). For situations like this where there's potential confusion about employment status, I'd keep the documentation for the full 3 years just to be safe. It takes up virtually no space as a digital file, and having that employer confirmation could save you headaches if any questions ever come up during an audit.