How long should I wait for my W2 forms to arrive before filing taxes?

For the jobs where I'm not sure whether I was an employee or contractor, how can I find that out if I don't have any paperwork? Would my paystubs show this? I think I only have digital ones from the restaurant job but nothing from the retail position.

Your paystubs would definitely tell you! If they were withholding federal, state, Social Security, and Medicare taxes from your checks, you were an employee and should receive a W-2. If there were no tax withholdings on your paystubs, you were likely a contractor and should get a 1099-NEC. If you had direct deposit, you might also check your bank statements. Employee payments usually come from payroll processors and might show withholdings, while contractor payments are often the full amount.

Wait so this actually works? I'm still waiting on a W2 from a job I had for like 6 weeks last summer. Can it really recreate the W2 just from a paystub? Is that even legal to file with?

I'm a bit confused about how this works. What if the numbers on your last paystub don't match what would be on your W-2? Like if there were adjustments or corrections made at year-end?

Yes, it's completely legal! The IRS actually has procedures for filing without an official W-2 using substitute information. Taxr.ai just makes this process much easier by extracting the right numbers from your paystubs or bank statements. As for year-end adjustments, that's a good question. The tool is pretty sophisticated and can account for most common year-end calculations. But if you had unusual adjustments, you might want to double-check the generated information against what you know about your earnings. Most of the time, your last December paystub has almost all the information that appears on your W-2.

How exactly does this work? Do they just call the IRS for you or something? I've been trying to get through to the IRS for weeks about my missing W2 situation.

This sounds too good to be true. The IRS wait times are notoriously horrible. I've literally waited 3+ hours multiple times. How can this service possibly get you through that quickly? Seems like a scam.

They don't call for you - it's more like they hold your place in line. Their system navigates the IRS phone tree and waits on hold, then calls you when they reach a real person. So you're still the one talking directly to the IRS agent. I was super skeptical too! After waiting on hold for 2+ hours myself multiple times with no luck, I was desperate enough to try anything. I figured worst case I'd waste a little money, but it actually worked exactly as advertised. They got me through to an agent in about 20 minutes, and I was able to get all my wage information directly from the IRS and file my taxes. The time saved was absolutely worth it.

I tried to create an account on the IRS website but got stuck during the verification process because they needed a credit card number and I only have a debit card. Do you know if there's another way to verify my identity with them?

The IRS verification process can be tricky. They accept some debit cards for verification purposes, but not all. If you have a loan (like auto, mortgage, or student loan), you can sometimes use that for verification instead. If all else fails, you can request your wage transcripts by mail using Form 4506-T, but that takes 5-10 business days to arrive. Another option is to make an appointment at your local IRS office - they can pull up your wage information in person.

This isn't always accurate. I've had jobs where I was an employee but elected to have 0 federal withholding temporarily (needed cash flow at the time), so my deposits looked like contractor payments. But I still got a W2 because I was on payroll and they were withholding SS and Medicare.