Here’s Exactly What to Do If You Still Haven’t Received Your Tax Forms

In January, various W-2 forms arrived in my mailbox and inbox.

My knee-jerk reaction was something like this:

Then I picked them all back up again because those papers are actually really important.

And if you haven’t received those forms to toss in the air in frustration by now, you should have.

All of your forms were due to be postmarked by Jan. 31 this year.

Here’s What You Should Have Received in the Mail By Now

W-2s are your main priority, but depending on what you’ve been up to this past year, you could’ve received a handful of other forms as well.

Forbes put together a handy little chart with the form numbers and reporting information, as well as due dates.

Here are some notable forms you should have received by Jan. 31:

• Wages, including sick pay and benefits (W-2 forms)

• Gambling winnings (W-2G forms)

• Home mortgage interest (Form 1098)

• Student loan interest (Form 1089-E)

• Tuition, reimbursements, scholarships and grants (Form 1098-T)

• Government payments, including tax refunds and unemployment compensation (Form 1099-G)

• Interest income (Form 1099-INT)

• Rents and royalties, prizes and awards, and non-employee compensation (Form 1099-MISC)

• Retirement plan distributions (Form 1099-R)

• Distributions from HSA, Archer MSA or Medicare Advantage MSA (Form 1099-SA)

• Social security payments (Form SSA-1099)

For the entire list, check out Forbes.

Haven’t Received Your Tax Forms Yet? Here’s What You Need To Do

You’re not going to want to file your tax returns without all of your forms.

It’ll just create more work for you or, even worse, flag you for an audit.

So if you’ve dug through that pile of mail, sifted through your inbox and haven’t had any luck finding these forms, here’s what you need to do:

Contact the issuer.

Say you’ve moved in the past year. Chances are, your forms just went to the wrong address.

This is when you’ll want to contact your employer — or whoever the issuer might be — and ask them to resend, please.

If your employer is no longer around or has moved, see if you can track ’em down on the internet. You could even try sending a note to the old address in hopes it’ll be forwarded along.

If that doesn’t work out for you…

Go to the IRS.

But it doesn’t want to hear from you until after Valentine’s Day. So, if you’ve had no luck by Feb. 15, call 1-800-829-1040.

(But don’t take any calls from the “IRS.” There have been major scams in the past.)

Have your address, phone number and Social Security number on hand. Have the employer’s name, address and phone number ready, too.

Forbes also recommends you have your employment dates, an estimate of your earnings and the federal withholding amount on hand. You’ll probably find all this on your last paystub.

While the IRS hunts down what you need, it’ll send you substitute forms.

If you don’t get your missing forms by April 18, you’ll have to file the form 4852 — said substitute. But the IRS will furnish you with instructions along with the form, so don’t stress.

If you have any unanswered questions, the IRS website should have everything you need!

Let’s commence tax season… now.

Your Turn: Have you ever had to deal with missing forms?

Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She has nothing clever to say about taxes — except that they’re taxing.