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3 Ways to Get Your Old W2s and Income Records

You woke up this morning and decided “Today is the day!” The day you’re going to stop losing sleep over IRS and state tax problems, the day you’re going to gather your old W2s and catch up on your tax return filings, and the day you’re going to take back your peace of mind and financial control.

I’m sure you’re feeling excited, empowered, and a little overwhelmed – I’m feeling excited for you too! You’ve started gathering your paperwork… and all of a sudden… you ran into a dilemma – you can’t find your W-2s, 1099s, or other income records from the prior years.  You’re not sure if you threw them out in the dumpster during a move or if the dog made confetti out of them. But what you absolutely know is that you can’t find them!

 Well, don’t worry (let’s not lose the momentum), I’ve got three ways for you to recover your lost W-2s and income records so you can continue to move full steam ahead with getting your taxes up to date! Let’s get into it:

1. Order Your IRS Wage & Income Transcripts

The IRS keeps a record of your reported income for up to 10 years.  These records are called wage and income transcripts.  We recommend starting here, because it’s the best starting point for knowing who reported income for you and how much was reported. Ordering your wage and income transcripts is pretty easy – simply do one of the following:

  • Access them Online: Visit https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript to set up your IRS Online Account for immediate access to get your wage & income transcripts. If you’ve already set up this account, simply login and request the appropriate transcripts for the relevant time periods.
  • Receive them by Snail Mail: Using the link above, you will also see the option to get your transcripts by mail. If you prefer to have the transcripts mailed, follow the instructions provided. This can add 5-10 days to your progress, but that’s okay!

This online request is the easiest and quickest way to get your prior year(s) income information.  You can also call the IRS to have the documents mailed to you, but you could be on hold for what may seem like FOREVER, so submitting an online request is always best.
 
The IRS wage and income transcripts will help you see exactly what income information (i.e. W-2s, 1099s, etc.) had been reported to the IRS on your behalf. The transcripts will also help guide you towards getting any additional information you may need from other sources, as well as determine if previous employers or financial institutions reported your income incorrectly. 

If the IRS wage and income transcripts show that you only had 1099-Misc/NEC income due to you being self-employed, etc., and no W-2 or retirement income was reported, then you can stop your income records search. At this point you will have all that you need to begin preparing your records and tax preparation.

2. Reach Out to Previous Employers

If your wage and income transcripts show that you had W-2 or 1099-R income you will want to reach out to the employer(s) or institutions, respectively, who reported income to the IRS.  Ask them to send you a copy of your W-2s and 1099-Rs, as this will show your state and local earnings and tax withholdings. 

IMPORTANT NOTICE: IRS wage and income transcripts DO NOT show state and local income or the amount of state and local tax withheld. Therefore, you may need to contact the state to get clarity on what was reported to them, if you aren’t able to get your W-2s from your previous employers. Properly recording your state and local income and tax withholding amounts on your tax returns will reduce any state and local tax calculated on the returns.

If you can’t get a hold of anyone to get your W-2s and 1099-Rs, you may have to move forward without them. However, there may be one last option, but I think it can be a bit hit or miss. 

3. Contact the Social Security Administration (SSA)

The last option is to contact the Social Security Administration. They say they have copies of our income statements (W-2s, etc.) dating back to 1978, however, in my experience getting information from the Social Security Administration can be challenging, so I suggest this as a last ditch effort.

Getting your information from the SSA comes in handy when you need tax records that are more than 10 years old or you can’t get the documents from the employers or institutions who issued the statements.

To get W-2s from the Social Security Administration, visit https://faq.ssa.gov/en-us/Topic/article/KA-02501 for their instructions. If you need your income records for any reason other than “Social Security-related reasons”, you may be required to pay a fee. Requesting your tax records from the SSA should be your very last option, as it is the most costly option, and, in my experience, it can take months before you receive the income records you’ve requested.

There you have it!

As always, if this becomes too burdensome, I encourage you to find an Enrolled Agent who can help take the load off. If you need further guidance or would like to work with me to fix your tax problems, schedule a free consultation so we can discuss your situation.

Let me know in the comments below which of the three methods you used to get your W-2s and income records, and whether or not you felt it was a smooth process.

Talk soon!

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