How to File Taxes Without Your W-2's

The sad fact of life is that the Internal Revenue Service does not accept the fact that you did not receive your W-2's as an excuse not to file your taxes. It's sort of like the "Dog ate my homework" excuse in their eyes. If you did not receive your W-2's from your employer, here's how you go about filing your taxes without them.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

1. Try to obtain your missing W2's. Call, email and write letters to your employer in an attempt to get your W-2's. If that doesn't work send a certified letter to them. Make sure you request a return receipt because you may need it to prove to the IRS that you did everything you could to get your W-2's.

2. 

   Compile your last year's information from your last pay stub. If your employer paid you by check, look through your files for your last pay tub for the tax year. If you were fortunate enough to have a company that sent email notifications of your latest pay, you could use the online information to compile your final pay (that's if you saved the information to your computer's hard drive).

3. Contact the IRS in advance of the April 15th deadline to notify them of the missing W-2. They will do their part to track down the missing documentation.

4. 

   Download form 4852 from the IRS website. Form 4852, which has a very long title, is used as a substitute to the missing W-2.

5. File your taxes using Form 4852. If you never receive the W-2 form, you must file your taxes anyway using Form 4852. The IRS doesn't accept the fact that you don't have your W-2's as an excuse not to file your taxes.

6. 

   Send an amended tax filing if you receive your missing W-2's after you have filed your taxes. In order to do so, you must use form 1040x "Amended US Individual Income Tax Return" when you file your revised taxes.

Resources

• IRS Form 4852
• IRS Form 1040X