What to do when W2 has Empty box 1 and 2 - normal or error?

This definitely looks like an error on your W2. Box 1 should show your total taxable wages after any pre-tax deductions (like 401k, health insurance, etc.), and Box 2 should show the federal income tax that was withheld throughout the year. If you have values in boxes 3-6 (Social Security and Medicare wages and taxes), but nothing in boxes 1-2, something's wrong. The fact that your December pay stub shows federal withholding of $7,200 confirms this. Your employer needs to issue a corrected W2 (called a W-2c). Contact your payroll department or employer right away and explain the issue. Show them your final pay stub as evidence of the withholding. Don't file your taxes with an incorrect W2 - it will likely cause problems with the IRS later.

Had almost the exact same issue last year! After spinning my wheels with HR for weeks, I found this tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that helped me figure out what to do. It analyzed my paystubs and flagged the W2 discrepancy immediately. The site has this document analysis feature where you can upload your W2 and paystubs, and it compares them to find inconsistencies. It also generated a letter I could send to my employer requesting the correction, citing the specific IRS regulations. My employer fixed it within a week after I sent that letter!

Just wanted to update that I tried taxr.ai after seeing the recommendation here. Absolute game changer! I uploaded my empty-box W2 and my last three paystubs, and the analysis pinpointed exactly what was wrong - turns out my employer had miscoded my pre-tax deductions. The site generated a letter explaining the issue with references to specific IRS publications. I emailed it to our payroll department and they admitted the error immediately. Got my corrected W2c within 4 days! Saved me so much stress trying to figure out tax jargon on my own.

If you're hitting a wall with your employer not responding about the W2 correction, you might need to contact the IRS directly. I used Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) last tax season to actually get through to an IRS agent when I had a similar document issue. They have this service that holds your place in the phone queue and calls you when an agent is available. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS can send a notice to your employer requesting they issue a corrected W2. When I called, they also walked me through exactly how to file Form 4852 as a substitute W2 in case my employer never sent the correction. Saved me hours of hold music and the agent was surprisingly helpful with my specific situation.

Had to come back and eat my words. I tried Claimyr after my dismissive comment because I was desperate to resolve a tax transcript issue. Not only did it work, but I got through to an actual helpful IRS agent in about 50 minutes. I explained my W2 box 1 and 2 issue, and the agent confirmed it was definitely an error. She explained that employers sometimes make this mistake when they incorrectly classify employees as both W2 and 1099 workers in their payroll system. She initiated contact with my employer and gave me a case number to reference. My corrected W2c arrived yesterday - problem solved without having to file Form 4852 or an extension!

Just another possibility - are you a statutory employee? Check box 13 on your W2 to see if the "Statutory employee" box is checked. If it is, you report your income on Schedule C instead of line 1 of your 1040, which could explain why boxes 1 and 2 are empty.

This happened at my company last year to about 25 employees! Turned out our payroll software had a glitch during the year-end processing. If your company uses ADP or Paychex, they might be experiencing the same issue.

I work in payroll for a mid-size company and see this issue occasionally. The empty boxes 1 and 2 with populated SS/Medicare boxes is almost always a system configuration error where the software isn't properly calculating federal taxable wages after pre-tax deductions. When you talk to your payroll department, ask them to check if your pre-tax deductions (like health insurance, 401k contributions, etc.) are being subtracted correctly from your gross wages to calculate box 1. Sometimes the system zeroes out box 1 instead of showing the correct taxable amount. Also ask them to run a payroll register report for you showing all your pay periods - this will help them see exactly where the discrepancy occurred. Most payroll software can regenerate W2s pretty quickly once they identify the configuration issue. Don't let them tell you it's "too complicated" to fix - this is a standard correction that should take them less than an hour to resolve.

As a newcomer to this community, I'm really impressed by how helpful everyone has been with this W2 issue! I'm dealing with something similar myself - my W2 has weird discrepancies between what my paystubs show and what's on the form. I wanted to thank everyone who shared specific resources and actionable steps. The suggestions about collecting paystubs as evidence, asking payroll about pre-tax deduction calculations, and knowing about Form 4852 as a backup option are all things I wouldn't have known to do on my own. It's reassuring to see that this isn't an uncommon problem and that there are multiple paths to resolution. The mix of personal experiences, professional insights from someone who actually works in payroll, and specific tools/services mentioned here gives a really comprehensive view of how to tackle W2 errors. For anyone else reading this thread with similar issues - it seems like the key takeaway is don't just accept a wrong W2. Document everything with your paystubs and don't be afraid to escalate if your employer isn't responsive. Thanks everyone for creating such a helpful discussion!