It’s time for each employee in the state of Iowa to check their records and make sure they’ve received an accurate Iowa W-2 form from their employer. While these W-2 forms are required by law to be distributed to every employee within the state by January 31 each year, there are still many employees missing W-2 forms each year.
Most employers have no problems complying with this IRS law. Many of the larger firms have their own payroll departments, which automatically generate this information in timely fashion. Others hire payroll-processing firms to do so. Sometimes it’s smaller companies who have problems with missing or inaccurate W-2s for their employees. Admittedly, paperwork is not the reason many business owners go into business in the first place but it’s impossible to run a business without accurate records. And in the case of the W-2s, it’s the law.
Most W-2 forms are distributed in paper form but with the increasing popularity of the internet, employers can now distribute W-2s in PDF format by email to employees who first agree to accept this form of distribution.
A new address is the most common reason for a missing W-2 form. Many employees get so busy with the details of moving to a new home they simply forget to inform their employer of the new address. Each time an employee moves, he or she is required to notify their employer of their current address by submitting a revised W-4 form containing the newer information.
Even with every precaution taken, there will always be a W-2 missing here or there. In this worst-case scenario, the employee is required by the IRS to submit Form 4598 and Form 4852 with their tax return whenever a W-2 is missing. Before 2004, a missing W-2 wasn’t such a problem. The IRS would accept a year-end paycheck stub in lieu of the missing W-2 but this is no longer the case. In an effort to track those employers who fail to provide this information, the IRS is no longer quite so understanding.
