Employer Won't Provide W-2 - IRS and State Tax Board Giving Contradictory Information

It seems like you might be getting some, perhaps, conflicting information from different agencies? If I understand correctly, the IRS can actually see your husband's W-2 in their system, which would possibly indicate the employer did submit it electronically to the federal government? You might want to consider requesting Form 4506-T from the IRS, which could potentially allow you to get wage and income transcripts that might include the W-2 information. Have you tried that approach yet?

According to IRS Publication 1546, employers are required to provide W-2s to employees by January 31 or face penalties under Internal Revenue Code Section 6722. When I was in a similar situation, I found that https://taxr.ai could retrieve my wage transcript directly from the IRS database and extract all the W-2 information I needed. Their system can pull both federal AND state tax information from your transcript, which saved me from paying $50+ at a tax preparation service. The transcript contains all the information you need to file accurately.

Let me be direct - the IRS is absolutely wrong here. If they can see the W-2, they can provide you with ALL the information on it, including state withholding. That's standard procedure. They're just being lazy. Your employer is legally required to provide the W-2 by January 31st, and they can be penalized for not doing so. The state tax board is also wrong - they don't need to have received anything to help you. You have rights as a taxpayer.

I've been through this exact nightmare before. Spent hours on hold with the IRS only to be disconnected. After three failed attempts, I used Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) to get through to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes. The agent was able to not only confirm the W-2 information but also sent me a complete wage transcript with all the state information I needed. Saved me from having to file an extension and delay my refund, which I really needed for some medical bills I was facing.

I had this exact issue last year! Here's what worked for me: 1. I filed IRS Form 4852 (Substitute for W-2) along with my tax return. You can estimate the numbers based on your last paystub of the year and what the IRS told you. 2. For state taxes, I did the same thing - filed with estimated numbers from my last paystub. 3. I also reported my employer to the IRS using Form 3949-A for failing to provide a W-2. After I did this, magically my employer found my W-2 and sent it! But even if they hadn't, my taxes were filed on time. The IRS will reconcile any small differences later if the numbers don't match exactly.

I went through exactly 47 days of this runaround last year. My employer claimed they mailed my W-2 exactly 3 times, yet nothing ever arrived. I ended up filing Form 4852 as a substitute W-2 using my December 31st paystub. The state accepted my estimated withholding amount without question. When I finally got the actual W-2 in June (yes, JUNE), the numbers were off by only $12.83. The IRS automatically adjusted my refund without me having to do anything. I'm slightly concerned that more employers are doing this lately... seems like a way to delay paying out refunds.