Wage & Income Transcript Blank But Other Transcripts Updated - What's Going On?

This is actually fairly common, especially earlier in the tax season. Here's what's typically happening: 1. First, the Wage & Income transcript gets updated on a different schedule than your other transcripts 2. Employers and financial institutions have until May 31, 2024 to submit W-2s and 1099s to the IRS 3. Even after submission, it can take several weeks for this information to appear in your transcript 4. The other transcripts (Account, Return, Record of Account) are updated based on your tax return filing, not employer submissions I'd recommend checking back in a few weeks, especially if you've already filed your return and it's been processed.

I had the same issue last month and was concerned about potential W-2 discrepancies. I used https://taxr.ai to analyze my Account Transcript instead, which showed my Adjusted Gross Income and verification codes indicating my return was accepted despite the missing Wage & Income Transcript. The platform explained that the Wage & Income transcript population is a separate process from return acceptance, and identified specific Transaction Codes that confirmed my income verification was complete. Definitely helped me understand what was happening behind the scenes.

This happened to me earlier this year! I was freaking out because I needed my complete transcripts for a mortgage application. Turns out the wage transcript is on a completely different update schedule than the others. Mine finally showed up around March 15th even though I had filed in early February. The mortgage lender ended up accepting my W-2s directly instead of waiting for the transcript to update. Saved me a ton of money by not delaying my rate lock!

Has anyone tried calling the IRS about this? I've been trying for days but can't get through. Always disconnected after waiting forever. Is this something worth calling about? Or am I just being paranoid? I tried using Claimyr (https://claimyr.com/?ref=rc) last tax season when I had a different issue and got through to an agent in like 20 minutes instead of spending days redialing. Wondering if I should try that again or just wait it out?

Let me share what happened to me last year - I saw the same thing with blank wage transcripts and ignored it. Turned out one of my 1099-NECs had been filed with a typo in my SSN, so it never showed up in my wage transcript. I only discovered this months later when I got a CP2000 notice saying I had unreported income. If I had been more persistent about checking why my wage transcript was blank, I could have caught and fixed this much earlier. Now I always make sure to compare what's in my wage transcript to what I actually received once it finally updates.

The IRS actually announced on February 12, 2024 that they're experiencing delays with wage and income transcript processing this year. They're prioritizing return processing over transcript updates. Last year my wage transcript didn't populate until April 22nd despite filing on January 29th. The year before it was available by March 15th. There's absolutely no consistency in their timeline, and it seems to get worse every year. If you need this information urgently, you might have better luck requesting a transcript by mail using Form 4506-T.

According to Internal Revenue Manual 3.13.35, wage and income document processing can take up to 6-8 weeks after submission by employers. However, the IRS uses a separate verification system called the Income Verification Express Service (IVES) during return processing that accesses wage data before it appears on public-facing transcripts. This is why your return can be processed correctly even when your wage transcript appears empty. If you need immediate verification of your income, you can request a Tax Return Transcript instead, which shows the income you reported on your return.

I work at a tax firm and we see this constantly. Last week I had a client whose wage transcript was blank but we could see from his account transcript that he already received his $3,200 refund. When we called the IRS (took 3 hours to get through), the agent confirmed they had all his W-2 data in their internal system but it hadn't populated to the public-facing transcript yet. This is especially common for people who have multiple W-2s or who have income from states with slower reporting systems. The delay has been getting worse every year since 2021.

Have you checked if your employer actually submitted your W-2 information? Sometimes smaller employers miss deadlines or have filing errors. Did you receive physical W-2s or access them through an employer portal?