What happens when you receive an incorrect W2?
What Is a W2?
Any employer that pays an employee more than $600 must provide a W2 for each employee. A W2 includes the following information.- Income – including wages, bonuses, and non cash payments
- Taxes – including social security, Medicare, and income tax
What to Do If you Receive an Incorrect W2
The first thing to do is take action. Even if you think the error is small. Errors can lead to an IRS audit, tax penalties and fines, and even jail time. If you have verified that your records and your employer's are different, the first step is to contact your employer and request a new W2.When contacting your employer, it is best to start with the human resources department to address this issue. A small difference may be due to a simple end of year tax adjustment. In this case, you do not need to worry about it. However, if there is a big difference your employer can quickly issue a new W2. This form will be labeled as a W-2c to indicate that it is a corrected form. If you get a W-2C, make sure you double-check that information as well.Contact Your Boss
![ask your boss to solve incorrect w2 ask your boss to solve incorrect w2](https://psn-cdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/blog/what-happens-when-you-receive-an-incorrect-w2-1.webp)
What If Your Employer Won’t Respond
If you run into the case where an employer refuses to answer your questions, continuously issues the wrong W2, or straight refuses to issue a new W2, you need to contact the IRS. Contacting the IRS will generate a claim and protect you from prosecution, holding the employer responsible. When contacting the IRS, you will need the following information:- Name
- Social Security number
- Income that you believe to be correct
- Contact information of your employer
Contact the Internal Revenue Service.
![Contact the IRS for support with incorrect W2 Contact the IRS for support with incorrect W2](https://psn-cdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/blog/what-happens-when-you-receive-an-incorrect-w2-2.webp)