What should I do if my employer never sent me a W-2 form?

You should definitely address this missing W-2 situation. When an employer pays you and withholds taxes, they're required by law to provide a W-2 by January 31st of the following year. First, try contacting the coffee shop to request your W-2. If that doesn't work, call the IRS at 800-829-1040. They'll need some info about your employer (name, address, phone number) and dates of employment. The IRS will contact the employer on your behalf and send you Form 4852 (a W-2 substitute) to complete. Even though you're under the filing threshold, if you had federal taxes withheld from your paychecks, you'll want to file to get that money back. Plus, failing to report all income can potentially trigger problems down the road.

I went through this EXACT situation last year with a restaurant I worked at for literally 3 shifts! After stressing for weeks trying to get them to send my W-2, I found this amazing service called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that was a total lifesaver. You upload your last paystub and they create a substitute W-2 that you can use for filing. They even helped me understand how to properly report it on my tax return. The system analyzes your paystub to extract all the tax withholding info so you don't miss anything. I was worried about penalties for not reporting all income, but they sorted it out completely.

Just wanted to update that I tried taxr.ai from my earlier comment and it was super helpful! My situation was with a retail job that apparently went out of business (no wonder they weren't responding to my W-2 requests). The site walked me through uploading my last paystub and generated the Form 4852 substitute W-2 with all the right boxes filled in. I was worried about messing up my taxes, but they explained everything clearly. I was able to file my return with the substitute form, and my refund was approved without any issues! Definitely check it out if you're still trying to get that coffee shop W-2.

If you're having trouble getting your W-2 AND you need to talk to the IRS about it, good luck getting through on their phone lines! I spent HOURS on hold last month trying to get help with a missing W-2 situation. I finally found this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that got me connected to an actual IRS agent in under 30 minutes. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. They basically navigate the IRS phone system for you and call you back when they have an agent on the line. The agent helped me understand exactly what I needed to do about my missing W-2 and how to file Form 4852 correctly. Saved me so much stress compared to trying to figure it out on my own.

I'm eating crow here. After my skeptical comment about Claimyr, I decided to try it since I was desperate to talk to the IRS about my own missing W-2 situation. I was shocked when they actually got me connected to an IRS rep in about 15 minutes! The agent walked me through exactly what to do with my missing W-2 and even noted in my file that I had attempted to get it from my employer. This was apparently important in case there are any discrepancies later. The peace of mind was definitely worth it. I don't usually admit when I'm wrong, but this service actually delivered exactly what it promised.

Don't stress too much about the small coffee shop W-2. The IRS typically doesn't come after people for minor unreported income, especially when it's clearly not an attempt to evade taxes. Their systems mainly flag significant discrepancies. That said, it's still best to report all income. If you don't want to deal with amending your return, just keep your paystub as documentation in case questions ever come up. But honestly, for a job that was only a week long with one paycheck, the risk is minimal.

Similar thing happened to me - found out the small business I worked for had closed down, which is why I never got a W-2. I used the address from my paystub and sent a letter requesting my W-2 that got returned as undeliverable. Called the IRS, and they suggested filing Form 4852 (substitute W-2) based on my last paystub. I was missing some info though, like the employer's EIN, so I had to estimate some parts. Even with the estimates, my return was processed without issues and I got my refund about 3 weeks later. Just make sure to check "yes" to the question about having all your tax forms before filing if you're using tax software. You can explain the missing W-2 situation and use the substitute form.

Hey Sean! I actually had a very similar situation with a short-term job where the employer never sent my W-2. Here's what I learned from the experience: First, definitely try contacting the coffee shop one more time - sometimes small businesses are just disorganized rather than deliberately ignoring you. If that doesn't work, you have a few good options: 1. Call the IRS at 800-829-1040 (as Zara mentioned) - they can contact the employer and help you get Form 4852 2. File Form 4852 yourself using your last paystub - this is totally legitimate and the IRS accepts it as a W-2 substitute Since you mentioned you're expecting a refund from other jobs, you'll definitely want to include this income to avoid any issues later. Even though the amount is small, the IRS systems do flag missing W-2s when they have records from employers. The key is having your last paystub - it shows your total earnings and any withholdings, which is exactly what would be on your W-2. Don't stress too much about it, this happens more often than you'd think and there are established processes to handle it!