Michigan
Why is my W2 is $12,000 different than last pay stub? What is reported to the irs? Can I file with my incorrect W2? Is it possible the company I work for is doing something illegal?
Michigan
Why is my W2 is $12,000 different than last pay stub? What is reported to the irs? Can I file with my incorrect W2? Is it possible the company I work for is doing something illegal?
what is different? how much different is it? have you asked your employer why the difference?
is there more or less on the W-2 and does the amount of pay you recieved the last paycheck happen to be a similar amount as the difference?
My W2 is $12,000 less than my last pay stub. I haven't asked my employer yet, I'm not sure if I want too. What does the IRS see? If they only see my W2 it's kinda good for me.
But I recently asked for my last 6 months earnings statements and they won't give them to me. Which now that I noticed the difference in the W2 is making me wonder if their doing something shady.
so your W2 shows $12k less than you believe you earned, yes?
(I guessed that from you saying it was "good for you" which generally means you would pay less tax which makes most people happy)
the IRS sees the W2.
You could file using the current W2 but if you really believe it is in error, if/when the IRS catches up with the situation, there will be back taxes plus penalties to pay. If that doesn't bother you, file with what you have but personally, I would recommend making an effort to have the W2 corrected.
At this late date, the best avenue to explore would be contacting the IRS and telling them you believe the W2 is incorrect. They have a bit more power than the average person to get things corrected quickly.
I believe they will tell you to file with the most accurate reporting you can calculate but with this, you are guaranteed to be expected to file an amended form when the correct figures are eventually discovered..
Personally, I would recommend trying to do things as correctly as possible. It will hurt the least when trying to get everything corrected.
What field on the W2 is less? You need to look at all of them. $12,000 happens to be a nice round number that could represent something like contributions to a 401K plan.
Have you gone to your HR or payroll department with a copy of the W-2 and the last paycheck of the year and ask them??
I handle payroll at my current place, we do our own W-2's, and find that often the employee don't read the W-2's properly. The only one complaint I got this year was the employee's CPA insisted on my giving him an original W-2, and I explained to the guy that it came off my printer, and it is the original. Other than that, it's just reading the different items off the W-2 with the employee.
On the other hand, most companies use payroll services, and the payroll guy would have to contact the payroll service to see what's going on, if in fact there is a descrepancy. Small companies use payroll services because they don't understand payroll, and big ones do it because it's "a big pain".
It's rare that company's do something unscruplous with W-2's, and it's even more difficult doing it via a payroll service.
Personally, through the years, only one case I came across, where my wife's employer says the W-2 descrepancy is a typo. They gave her a another typed up revised W-2. Later on, the controller was arrested for embezzlement, and the messed up W-2's was part of the scheme.