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If, like most taxpayers, you are eager to get on and be done with your 2014 tax filing, then it is about this time that you receive your W-2, or 1099-R, or 1099-MISC forms that you need to fill out the income part of your 1040 individual income tax return.
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Employers or payers have until February 2, 2015 to issue Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, and Form 1099-R, Distributions From Pensions, Annuities, Retirement or Profit-Sharing Plans, IRAs, Insurance Contracts, etc., for the current processing year.
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- But, what if you do not receive them by February 2, 2015, or if your information is incorrect on these forms?
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If you do not receive them by February 2, 2015, or if your information is incorrect on these forms, what you need to do is contact your employer/payer.
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But, before you assume that it wasn’t delivered, double check the pile of mail you haven’t opened yet, or, if you agreed to your form being sent electronically, check your inbox and even your spam box before contacting your employer or payer.
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When you contact your employer or payer, you may discover that you haven’t received the form because of an incomplete or bad address (or maybe you moved this year) so check to make sure that your information is correct. Or maybe the address is correct but your form got lost in the mail. If that’s the case, your employer can simply furnish you with another form.
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If it is after February 14, and you still have not received the missing or corrected form, you may call the IRS at 800-829-1040 for assistance. When you call, please have the following information available:
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- Your name, address (including ZIP code), phone number and Social Security number,
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- Your employer/payer's name, address (including ZIP code), and phone number,
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- If known, your employer/payer’s identification number (EIN),
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- An estimate of the wages you earned, your federal income tax withheld and your dates of employment.
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After February 14, the IRS will contact the employer/payer for you and request the missing or corrected form.
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| The IRS will also send you a Form 4852, Substitute for Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, or Form 1099-R, Distributions From Pensions, Annuities, Retirement or Profit-Sharing Plans, IRAs, Insurance Contracts, etc., along with a letter containing instructions. |
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If you do not receive the missing or corrected form in sufficient time to file your tax return, you may use Form 4852 to complete your return.
If you use form 4852 for “improper use”, you could be hit with accuracy-related penalties equal to 20% of the amount of taxes that should have been paid; civil fraud penalties equal to 75% of the amount of taxes that should have been paid, and/or a $5,000 civil penalty for filing a frivolous return or taking a frivolous position.
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If you receive the missing or corrected Form W-2 or Form 1099-R after you file your return and the information differs from your estimates, use Form 1040X , Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.
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You should also put the brakes on filing if you are a beneficiary of a trust or estate, or a shareholder, partner or member of an LLC, LLP or S corporation. Those entities rarely file early. And since those are pass through entities, they must prepare their actual tax returns before they can furnish any Schedules K-1. Those might take until March or April to show up on your doorstep.
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Regarding Form 1099-R, generally, the IRS requires that plan administrators file Form 1099-R if they made distributions of at least $10 to a recipient.
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States, local governments, pension plans, life insurance carriers and annuity plans must report their distributions using this form if they made retirement distributions, annuity distributions to annuitants, insurance distributions, disability payments or death benefits to surviving dependents.
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Retirement plan administrators must file 1099-R forms with the IRS by Feb. 28 if they file paper copies, or file by April 2 if they submit electronic copies.
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| According to the Instructions to IRS Form 1099-R, taxpayers who file their 1099-R forms, and subsequently realize that they erroneously filed their returns, must correct their errors as soon as they discover them. To correct a previously filed 1099-R form, you must file a new or corrected Form 1099-R. |
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| Again, the IRS will assist taxpayers who have not received their original or amended returns by Feb. 14 by contacting payers and requesting new or amended forms. In the interim, the IRS can send payees substitute forms if they have not received their original forms or allow them to use IRS Form 4852 to file their taxes without their amended tax forms. |
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| And, yes, as always, we advise that you contact your tax professional in all your dealing with the IRS. |
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