W2C Discrepancy with IRS - My Corrected Wages Not Showing Up

This kind of disconnect between the IRS and SSA happens more often than you'd think. W2C forms get submitted to the SSA first, and then the SSA is supposed to transmit that information to the IRS, but sometimes there's a delay or communication breakdown between the two agencies. Here's what I'd recommend: First, get a written statement from your employer confirming they submitted the W2C to the SSA, including the date it was submitted. Then contact the SSA directly (not the IRS) and request verification that they received your W2C. The SSA can provide you with a wage and income transcript that should show the corrected information. Once you have documentation from both your employer and the SSA, call the IRS back with this information. Request that they make a note in your file about the discrepancy and the steps you've taken to resolve it. You might need to file Form 4852 (Substitute for W-2) along with documentation proving the correct wage amount.

I had a similar nightmare with W2C issues last year and was getting nowhere until I tried taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai). It saved me so much headache! Their system analyzed all my wage documents and identified exactly where the discrepancy was happening between what I submitted and what the IRS had on file. The service generated a detailed report explaining the exact differences between my original W2 and the W2C that I could share with both the IRS and my employer. It highlighted precisely which boxes had discrepancies and calculated the correct tax impact. Their analysis helped me prove to the IRS that my filing was correct based on the W2C my employer provided.

Just wanted to update - I was skeptical about taxr.ai but decided to give it a try with my W2C issue. Honestly, it was a game-changer! Their analysis showed that my employer had submitted the W2C with the correct wages but had miscoded one of the tax withholding boxes, which was causing the IRS confusion. The report they generated was super detailed and professional - it clearly showed the before and after numbers for each box on the W2 vs W2C. I sent this to both my HR department and the IRS, and it immediately cleared up the confusion. The IRS agent I spoke with actually thanked me for providing such clear documentation of the issue! My refund was processed within 2 weeks after that. Saved me months of additional back-and-forth and probably a ton of gray hairs too.

When I had a similar issue with a W2C discrepancy, I spent WEEKS trying to get an actual human at the IRS to help resolve it. Kept getting put on hold for hours only to be disconnected. Finally, I found Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) and watched their demo at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. Basically, it got me connected to a real IRS agent in under 45 minutes instead of waiting on hold all day. The agent was able to see both my W2 and W2C in their system but confirmed there was a processing error causing the discrepancy. She put notes in my file and told me exactly what documentation I needed to provide to fix the issue. Without getting through to an actual person who could see all the details in my file, I would've been stuck in this loop forever. Sometimes you just need to talk to the right person at the IRS who has the authority to investigate and resolve these kinds of discrepancies.

Well I'm eating my words now. After my skeptical comment above, I decided to try Claimyr because I was completely stuck with a similar W2C issue. My employer submitted a W2C but the IRS kept sending me letters saying I underreported my income. Got connected to an IRS rep in about 35 minutes (would have been impossible for me to wait that long during work hours). The agent pulled up my records and immediately identified the problem - the W2C was received but had been attached to the wrong tax year in their system! She fixed it on the spot and told me my corrected refund would be processed within 21 days. Can't believe I wasted 3 months going back and forth with letters when a 15-minute conversation with the right person solved everything. Sometimes you really do just need to talk to a human who can actually look at your complete file.

Something similar happened to me, and what finally worked was getting transcripts from BOTH the IRS and SSA and comparing them. You can get your IRS Wage and Income Transcript online through their website, and as others mentioned, you can get your SSA earnings record too. When I compared mine, I found that the IRS transcript didn't show the W2C at all, but the SSA transcript did. Turned out there was a huge backlog at SSA for transmitting corrections to the IRS. I printed both transcripts, highlighted the discrepancies, and faxed them to the IRS with a detailed explanation letter. Took about 6 weeks, but they eventually updated their records and released my refund.

Has anybody actually been successful with sending in a Form 911 (Taxpayer Advocate Service request) for this kind of problem? I've heard mixed things about whether they help with W2C discrepancies.

I went through almost the exact same situation last year with my 2021 return. The key thing that finally resolved it was getting a letter directly from my employer's payroll department (not just HR) that included specific details: the date they submitted the W2C to SSA, the submission confirmation number they received, and a line-by-line comparison of what changed between the original W2 and the corrected W2C. When I called the IRS with this documentation, they were able to create what they called a "manual adjustment" to my account while they waited for the SSA systems to sync up properly. The agent told me this kind of inter-agency delay happens frequently, especially during busy filing seasons. One thing that really helped was asking the IRS agent to put a "hold" on any collection actions related to the discrepancy while the W2C issue was being resolved. This prevented them from continuing to send me confusing notices about underreported income while we sorted everything out. The whole process took about 3 months from start to finish, but once I had the right documentation and spoke with an agent who understood the issue, it moved pretty quickly. Don't give up - these W2C problems are definitely solvable, just frustrating!

I'm dealing with something very similar right now! My employer filed a W2C back in October, but when I called the IRS last week, they said they only see my original W2 from January. It's so frustrating because my employer keeps insisting they submitted everything correctly. Reading through these responses has been really helpful - I had no idea about the SSA wage transcript or that there could be delays between the SSA and IRS systems. I'm definitely going to try getting documentation from both agencies to compare what they each have on file. Has anyone had success with asking their employer for the SSA submission confirmation number? My HR department has been pretty vague about whether they actually have proof of submission, and I'm wondering if I should be more specific about what documentation I need from them. Also, for those who used the fax method - did you send it to a specific IRS fax number, or just the general correspondence address? I want to make sure I'm sending my documentation to the right place so it doesn't get lost in their system. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences - it's reassuring to know I'm not the only one dealing with this kind of bureaucratic nightmare!

I went through this exact nightmare two years ago and what finally worked was being extremely persistent with documentation. The key breakthrough for me was requesting what's called a "CADE 2 transcript" from the IRS - this shows their real-time system data rather than the standard transcripts that might be outdated. When I compared the CADE 2 transcript with my SSA earnings record, it became crystal clear that the IRS system hadn't been updated with my W2C information even though SSA had it. I printed both documents, highlighted the discrepancies in bright yellow, and hand-delivered them to my local IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center rather than mailing or faxing. The local office was able to input a "manual correction" immediately while I waited, and they gave me a printout showing the adjustment had been made to my account. My refund was released within 10 days after that. The moral of the story: sometimes you need to physically show up with paperwork in hand. The local offices have more direct access to make immediate corrections than the phone representatives do. Call ahead to make an appointment and bring every single piece of documentation you have - original W2, W2C, pay stubs, employer letters, SSA transcript, everything. It's worth the trip to get it resolved once and for all.