Do you have an accurate 2006 W-2 form from each employer? You’ll need it to file your taxes in less than a month! If you are missing a W-2 form, inform your employer immediately. You should receive a duplicate within 2 weeks. If not, contact the IRS and they will intervene on your behalf.
As I’m sure you already know, the W-2 form is a document provided to employees by the employer, and it contains important information including wages earned and tax withheld. IRS requires that these forms be given to the employees latest by January 31. If an employee does not get it by then, he or she should contact either the employer or the IRS, who would then intervene on the employee’s behalf and facilitate matters.
Until a few years ago, an employee could file the tax return and attach a paycheck stub with it. Now, IRS requires that the W-2 be attached. Its absence will require you to file additional forms. It could also result in a delay in receiving any tax refund. The IRS has become stricter in recent years, requiring employers to explain any missing W-2s, as well.
Many employers include W-2 forms in the paycheck envelope. Sometimes the forms are mailed, especially if payroll is being processed by an outside organization, or if the employee has left the job. Problems arise when the employer does not have the correct address. Sometimes employees change their address and fail to notify the office, or they do notify the employer and the information gets lost during processing. When the payroll has been outsourced to someone else, the probability of the new address not making it to the payroll is even greater. And it all results in the employee not getting the form in time, or not at all.
If an employee does not get the W-2 form by January 31, he or she should contact the employer to ensure that the address at the office is correct. If it needs to be changed, it should be. Employers usually have no objection in issuing a duplicate form, as required by law.
