Instructions for Obtaining Your W-2 Forms Online for Tax Preparation
W-2 forms are documents that are sent to an individual by either their current or past employer. These documents provide a schedule of the salaries and earnings that were received, together with the amount of money that was withheld and paid over to the relevant tax authorities as payroll taxes. When completing tax returns, the W-2 form is an essential piece of documentation because it contains the primary income information for the majority of taxpayers. As a consequence of this, taxpayers might be required to wait until these forms are available before beginning to file their tax returns. In the event that you have not yet received your W-2 forms, the following is some advice on how to access them:
Copies that were mailed
The Internal Revenue Service requires that W-2 forms for a given year be provided to employees by their employers no later than January 31 of the following year. Therefore, the W-2 forms should be provided to employees no later than the first week of February at the very latest. If it is still early in the year, it is probably best to wait until the beginning of February before looking into other ways to get access to the W-2 forms. This is especially true if the year is still young.
Request Employer
If by the middle of February, you still have not gotten your W-2 forms. You can always ask your current or former employer for a copy of them. You also need to check to see if your employer has accurate information about your address stated in their records. Those who have moved to a new home within the past year absolutely need to do this, as it is extremely important for them.
Versions That Can Be Downloaded
Employees can get a printable version of their W-2 form on the websites of many small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as many major corporations. Furthermore, many employees of large corporations also have access to this form. You should thus inquire with the department that handles human resources to determine whether or not your company offers a service of this kind.
W-2 Express Service for Taxpayers
When filing tax returns, many of the tax preparation software packages also include a feature called Tax W-2 Express Service. This service immediately attaches an individual’s W-2 forms to the tax return form. When preparing one’s tax return, this service makes it possible for one’s income and tax information to be automatically updated based on the W-2 form.
Services Offered by Paid Websites
There are websites that charge users a fee in order to give taxpayers a copy of their W-2 form. These services are available online. As a result, you will have access to your W-2 forms through this method. If you want to avoid being taken advantage of in a scam, you should investigate these websites thoroughly before sending any payment to a website of this kind.
Make a request for it to the IRS
Contacting the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and making a formal request for a copy of your W-2 form is yet another option for gaining access to this document. You can accomplish this by phoning the toll-free number provided by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and obtaining the form. If the IRS has already obtained a copy of the forms from your current or previous employer, they will send you a hard copy in the mail.
Make use of pay stubs
You can still use your paystubs to access information about your income and the taxes that you paid, even if you are unable to get your W-2 form by using any of the techniques that were presented above. The process of preparing your tax returns in this manner is more time-consuming, but it should yield the same results as having a W-2 in your possession.