I filed for an extension. But I'm still missing a W-2. It's "in the mail" (I believe it). But I will not see it for 3 weeks because I am going out of the country.
I have no records of my own to fall back on. But I am reasonably certain I have already overpaid the taxes due, both federal and state (Calif), with a combination of estimated tax payments and the payment with the extension filed on-time.
So if I file in Nov instead of Oct, would there be any penalty, given that it's a refund?
Is there any reason to file on-time now, using bogus W-2 data and not attaching a W-2 to the return (since I don't have it), with the intention of filing an amended return in Nov?
Is there a third alternative, for example a second extension?
Any chance you can call up your payor and ask them what the W-2 says, so you can file a return with the correct amounts?
I expect that if you attach a note saying that the W-2 was not received, but you believe that the numbers reflect what the W-2 says, the IRS will forgive you.
Thanks for the pointer. If I can get the numbers from the employer, that will address the problem that I still would not have the W-2 in time to file on-time.
I've been trying, believe me. The employer is a university, and they do not permit direct calls to the payroll dept. They expect employees to have access through their internet account.
They won't email or fax the W-2. They are concerned about exposure of the SSN, or so they say.
But it did occur to me earlier to ask if they would call me to convey the dollar amounts box-by-box; or even email just those numbers. I'm waiting for a response.
"John Lev> I expect that if you attach a note saying that the W-2 was
I had a similar thought myself. I don't expect forgiveness. After all, I did have 6 months to get this done. Klunk! But I thought it might avoid any illusion of fraud.
And that's when I realized: if there is no penalty for a late return with a refund -- if I'm "sure" about getting a refund -- there is no point in sweating the deadline.
That's what precipitated my question. I'll trust Art's response. ;-) Especially since I found this on an irs.gov website (Topic 653):
"If you owe tax and don't file on time, the total failure to file penalty is usually five percent of the tax owed for each month, or part of a month that your return is late, up to five months. If your return is over 60 days late, the minimum penalty for late filing is the lesser of $135 or 100 percent of the tax owed."
No mention of the consequences if you do __not__ owe taxes. But a lack of comment does not mean there are any.
Thanks again, Art and John. I think I've beaten this horse to death.
The same is true for CA. However, if CA asks for a tax return and you fail to comply, they assess a penalty of 25% of the tax (not 25% of the tax owed, ie. they don't consider any payments, and this penalty seems to violate the 8th amendment in my opinion).
There is also a form
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to get a transcript of the W-2 from the IRS itself. I suppose it could take a week to get the results from the time you mail out the form. There was a proposal in Congress that if you have just a W-2 the IRS will calculate your tax return for you and mail you the tax return, which then you could agree to.
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