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How To Get Your W-2 From a Previous Employer: Steps and Tips

By indeed Editorial Team

March 11, 2021TwitterLinkedInFacebookEmail A W-2 shape is an important document to have when filing your annual taxes. At the beginning of each year, companies send all their employees W-2s that include information about the former class ‘s earnings and taxes. If you have changed jobs in the past class, you must however get a W-2 from your erstwhile employer to file your taxes properly. In this article, we describe how to get your W-2 from a previous employer and tips if you have not received it so far. Related : How To Get A Pay Stub

Why do you need to get a W-2 from your previous employer?

If you changed jobs in the past year, you must have a W-2, besides called a engage and Tax Statement, from your previous employer to file your taxes. You use this form to find out how much taxes you owe or if you can expect a tax refund. This form includes data such as :

• How much money you earned at that company in the by year
• amount of federal, state, Social Security and Medicare taxes withheld from your earnings
• Your annual contributions to your retirement fund
• Employer contribution to your health care
• amount of dependent care benefits you received

The Internal Revenue Service ( IRS ) requires companies to send W-2 forms to all current and former employees who earned at least $ 600 during the past year. Related : Understanding the W-2 Form

How to get a W-2 from your former employer

The IRS requires your former employer to mail you a transcript of your W-2 before the end of January. If by the first few weeks of the year, your W-2 has not arrived so far, or you have misplaced the form, you might need to take legal action to avoid tax file penalties. here are elementary steps you can follow to make certain you receive your W-2 on time :

1. Check the date

Know important tax dates, and watch the calendar to determine when you should intervene. Your former employer has until Jan. 31 to mail your W-2. therefore, it might not arrive until the first week of February. According to the IRS, you should receive your W-2 by Feb. 14 at the latest .

2. Change your address if you moved

If your address has changed since you stopped working for your former employer, make sure you filled out a change-of-address form at your local United States Post Office. After submitting this form, you must typically wait seven to 10 days before the USPS processes your request and mail arrives at your new address. If you forgot to fill this mannequin out when moving, chain mail sent to your former address will not get forwarded to your new home, and the Postal Service might have returned your W-2 to your early employer .

3. Search your email

You might have opted to receive paperless tax statements, or your early employer prefers to send tax documents digitally. Search your inbox and spam folder for an e-mail indicating your tax documents are quick. This notice typically includes a liaison to a guarantee on-line platform where you can access and download important files such as your W-2 .

4. Contact your former employer

If by the end of January you have not received your W-2, first contact your former employer. If the company you worked for has a human resources ( HR ) department, call or email the HR representative to ask about the status of your W-2 and to confirm they have your correct mailing address. They might have mailed the form, but it got lost in the mail or went to the incorrectly address. If the company does not have an HR department, call your former coach. put up to pick up your W-2 in person to save meter .

5. Contact the payroll administrator

If the ship’s company you worked for uses a third-party provider to process payroll, call or email the payroll administrator. Again, confirm the savoir-faire they have on file for you, and ask them to send a substitute copy if they mailed the shape, but it has not arrived .

6. Contact the IRS

If you can not contact your former employer, they do not respond to your request or you have not received your W-2 by Feb. 14, call the IRS at 800-829-1040. Provide the representative with the company ‘s Employer Identification Number ( EIN ), which you can find on your old give stub or the previous year ‘s W-2. You might besides need to provide information such as your touch information and Social Security number, the employer ‘s contact information, estimated earnings and the dates you worked for that company. The IRS then sends your former employer a reminder to mail your W-2. If you prefer to handle tax communications in person, you can schedule an appointment at your local anesthetic IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center. Bring the necessary information, including the caller ‘s EIN, with you to speed up the serve. Related : What ‘s Included in a Pay Stub and other Frequently Asked Questions

Tips if you can’t get your W-2 from your previous employer

If you have completed the steps above and believe you will not get your W-2 by the April 15 deadline, you still need to file your taxes. You have a few options to avoid IRS fines :

• Request an reference : Submit Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, to ask the IRS to give you more time to file your taxes. If accepted, you have six more months to file your income tax returns but must hush pay your taxes on time. Include with the human body your best appraisal of how a lot tax you owe and requital for that sum.
• file without a W-2 : If you do not expect to receive a W-2 from your former employer — if, for case, they are no longer in clientele — you can submit Form 4852, Substitute for Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, with your tax return in home of a W-2. Use the information on your last pay up stub from that company to estimate your earnings and withholdings and complete the 4852. If you receive your W-2 after submitting a 4852, confirm your estimates, and file form 1040x to correct any inaccuracies .

You can find and download these forms on the IRS web site and must submit them by the April tax filing deadline. Getting an propagation or filing a substitute form can slow process of your reappearance and delay your refund, but prevents the IRS from penalizing you for delinquent or unfiled taxes.