If you are reading this article, do you know where your Louisiana W-2 form is?
There is a tax law that requires each employer to deliver to each employee an accurate copy of their earnings and deductions records for the previous year. The deadline is January 31 of the year after earnings and deductions were made. If you haven’t gotten this document yet, you really should contact your supervisor or your employer’s payroll department as soon as possible so a duplicate can be issued.
Your W-2 form is an important document when it comes time for you to file your state and federal income tax returns. This document must accompany your tax return or your tax refund is likely to be delayed.
On your W-2 form, please check for accurate amounts listed for your total earnings for the previous year as well as the amounts paid into FICA and other automatic deductions. If you had payroll deductions that paid for a health care plan, this information should also be listed even though no taxes are assessed for health care payments.
Many Louisiana employers will mail W-2 forms to their employees or include them with the last paycheck received during the month of January. If you changed jobs during 2006, your old employer will most likely mail this document to you. Smaller employers often hand deliver this document directly to their employees.
If that January 31 deadline has come and gone and you still don’t have an accurate W-2, you might want to check the address listed on your paycheck or check stub. Often a worker will move during the year and fail to notify the proper people at work of an updated address. The most common reason an employee doesn’t receive his or her W-2 on time is because they moved during the previous year and mentioned it to their boss but didn’t properly report it to the payroll or personnel department.
