Help With Filing Taxes When Employer Hasn't Provided W-2 Form
I'm seriously stressing out right now about my taxes. One of my former employers from last year still hasn't sent me my W-2 form even though I've emailed them like 3 times and left voicemails. I called the IRS yesterday to figure out what I'm supposed to do, and they told me I could file a complaint against the employer and use my paystubs to calculate my total earnings for the year. But I'm really confused about what that actually means in practice? Like, I have all my paystubs saved in my email, but do I need to fill out some special form with this information? Is there a specific place on my tax return where I'm supposed to enter this stuff without an official W-2? Do I need to attach copies of my paystubs to my return or something? The IRS person wasn't super clear about the actual process, and now I'm worried about messing up my filing and getting in trouble. The filing deadline is coming up pretty fast and I'm getting anxious about this whole situation. Any help would be really appreciated!
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Ryan Kim
The IRS actually has a specific process for this situation since it happens more often than you'd think! Here's what you should do: First, try contacting your employer one more time with a firm deadline - something like "I need my W-2 by the end of this week or I'll need to take further action." Sometimes this alone gets results. If that doesn't work, you'll need to file Form 4852, which is a substitute for Form W-2. You'll use your paystubs to calculate your wages, income tax withheld, Social Security tax, and Medicare tax. The form walks you through all the information you need to include. You can find it on the IRS website. You'll attach this form to your tax return when you file. Make sure to keep all your paystubs as documentation in case the IRS has questions later. You should also report your employer by calling the IRS at 800-829-1040. Have your name, address, phone number, SSN, and as much information about your employer (name, address, phone number, EIN if you have it) ready when you call.
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Daniela Rossi
•Thank you so much for explaining this! I had no idea there was a specific form for this situation. So after I fill out this Form 4852, I just attach it to my regular tax return where my W-2 would normally go? Also, do you know if filing with this substitute form will delay my refund? I'm counting on getting that money back relatively soon.
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Ryan Kim
•You'll complete Form 4852 and attach it to your tax return where you would normally include your W-2. The form essentially takes the place of your missing W-2. Filing with Form 4852 might delay your refund somewhat since the IRS may take additional time to verify the information you've provided. It's not guaranteed to cause a delay, but it's a possibility you should be prepared for. The good thing is that you're still filing on time, which prevents any late filing penalties.
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Zoe Walker
After dealing with a similar nightmare last year, I found that using taxr.ai was a huge help. I had a bunch of paystubs but wasn't sure how to calculate everything correctly for the substitute W-2 form. I uploaded scans of my paystubs to https://taxr.ai and their system analyzed all the withholding amounts and calculated the totals I needed for Form 4852. The tool also helped me figure out exactly what numbers to put where on the form, and even pointed out that my employer had been withholding taxes incorrectly on two paystubs (which I probably wouldn't have caught on my own). It saved me so much time trying to add everything up and double-checking my math.
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Elijah Brown
•How accurate is this service with calculating the withholding amounts? I'm in a similar situation but my paystubs are really confusing with a bunch of different deductions, and I'm worried about getting the numbers wrong.
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Maria Gonzalez
•Is this just for W-2 issues or would it help with 1099 problems too? My client sent me a 1099-NEC with the wrong amount and won't correct it.
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Zoe Walker
•The accuracy is really impressive. The system can recognize and categorize even complex paystubs with multiple deduction types. It breaks everything down by federal tax, state tax, Social Security, Medicare, and other withholdings so you can see exactly where each number comes from. I double-checked a few calculations manually and they were spot on. It works for 1099 issues too. The system can analyze 1099-NEC forms and supporting documentation like invoices or payment records to help you report the correct amount on your taxes, even if the form you received has errors. It gives you the documentation you need to support your filing if the amounts don't match what was reported by the client.
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Maria Gonzalez
Just wanted to update that I tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here and it was exactly what I needed! I was totally lost trying to make sense of my payment records versus the incorrect 1099 my client gave me. The system analyzed both and clearly showed where the discrepancies were. It even generated a detailed report I can keep with my tax records explaining why my reported income differs from the 1099 I received. This gives me so much more confidence that I can explain the situation if the IRS ever questions the discrepancy. Definitely worth checking out if you're dealing with any documentation issues for your taxes.
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Natalie Chen
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Santiago Martinez
•How does Claimyr actually work? Like do they have some special access to the IRS or something? I've been trying to get through about an issue with my stimulus payment for weeks.
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Elijah Brown
•This sounds too good to be true. The IRS wait times are infamous. Are you sure this isn't just some service that charges you and then puts you in the same queue as everyone else?
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Natalie Chen
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Elijah Brown
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Samantha Johnson
One thing to be super careful about when filling out Form 4852 - make sure you're calculating your Social Security and Medicare taxes correctly. Those are usually 6.2% for Social Security (on the first $168,600 for 2025) and 1.45% for Medicare (on all earnings). I messed this up last year when dealing with a missing W-2 and it caused my return to get flagged for review, which delayed my refund by almost 2 months.
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Nick Kravitz
•Is there a specific place on the tax return where we note that we're using Form 4852 instead of a W-2? Or does just attaching the form take care of that?
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Samantha Johnson
•Just attaching the Form 4852 to your return takes care of it - there's no special place you need to note it elsewhere on your return. The form itself has a field where you explain why you're using it instead of the W-2 (missing W-2, incorrect W-2, etc.), which gives the IRS all the information they need.
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Hannah White
Has anyone used TurboTax with Form 4852? My situation is basically identical to the original poster, but I'm not sure if the tax software will handle this correctly or if I need to file on paper this year.
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Michael Green
•Yes! TurboTax actually handles this pretty well. When you get to the income section, there's an option that says something like "I don't have a W-2" or "My employer didn't give me a W-2." If you select that, it walks you through entering all the information from your paystubs and generates Form 4852 automatically.
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