2006 2007 W2's

[Redneck]

Client cannot locate w2's from 2006 and 2007 company went out of business. IRS sent him a transcript, but it does not have how much was withheld form the State of La. Louisiana would not tell him if he had anything withheld during these years. LA is requesting full taxes with no withholding. Where can I go to possibly get a copy.

[erchess]

Question

Are you sure you are understanding the State? Are they saying its up to you to prove any withholding or are they saying that their records indicate that there was none?

My only thought about replacing the W2s if you can't get them from the state would be to find the former owner or if payroll was staffed out the payroll company which who knows might still be in business.

[MLINDER42]

State Withholding

DC is the same way if you can not produce a W-2 you can not receive any credit for the money sent in.They do not keep track of it by individual

[WhiteOleander]

Since the W-2's are originally sent to Soc Sec to be processed, perhaps they can give you copies.

[Jesse]

Have you contacted the State of Louisiana Dept of Revenue?

I just had a similar case which we needed W-2's from 2003 to 2007 for Wisconsin tax filing and the WI tax withheld was also an itemized deduction for the taxpayer. We were able to get copies from the Wisconsin Dept of Revenue at a cost of $5.00 per year - well worth it and they were actually very quick!

[gkaiseril]

Many states do not have the resources to record this data. The IRS does not keep the state data on file.

The employer should be able to provide a copy or transcript of the payroll data for the client or a copy of the W-2. If a transcript of the payroll data is provided then you will need to prepare a substitute W-2 and describe how you determined the payroll amounts. Or the payroll processor of the employer.

You could also use payroll stubs if the necessary data is provided.

If you can not get any data then you can not prove what was paid to the state on your client's behalf and you can only claim what you can prove.

[ChEAr$]

Obtaining W2's

Here is a cut and paste from notes of a fellow EA's teaching materials.

"Request For Microprint Copies Of Non-SSA Program Related W-2s
The Privacy Act and Section 1106 of the Social Security Act permit SSA to charge an individual a fee for searching, reviewing and providing copies of Forms W-2 for all non-SSA program related purpose requests, as defined in RM 01455.004B. There is a fee of $30 for each year that copies of Forms W-2 are requested, regardless of the number of W-2 copies actually provided for each of the years requested, or whether copies are available for the year(s) requested.

NOTE: This procedure does not cover requests by employers for microprint copies of Forms W-2. Follow your current procedure (GN 03311.005E.) when employer request for microprint copies of Form W-2 is received.

Below are some examples of non-SSA program related purpose requests for copies of Forms W-2.

Filing Federal or State tax returns;
Resolving any State tax discrepancies;
Establishing residency;
Lost form; and
Pension funds.

Also, when no specific reason for the request is provided, it is deemed to be for a non-SSA program related purpose.

The public can request copies of Forms W-2 from SSA by submitting either IRS Form 4506 (Request for Copy or Transcript of Tax Form) or other written correspondence. An individual can request copies of Forms W-2 from the record of someone else if that person tells us in writing to give the copies to the third party. The individual's written authorization should be sent in with the W-2 request and SSA must receive it within 60 days of the date the individual signed it.

Requests for copies are processed in the Office of Central Operation's Division of Earnings Records Operations (OCO/DERO). The mailing address is:

Social Security Administration
Office of Central Operations
Division of Earnings Records Operations
P.O. Box 33003
Baltimore, MD 21290-3003

DERO returns the W-2 microprint within 3-4 weeks of receipt of form IRS 4506 (or equivalent). If you have questions regarding the processing of these requests, contact DERO in the office of Earnings Operations (OEO) per the telephone numbers provided the chart in SM00349.405C."

You might want to cut and paste this into a little notepad text file to keep for future reference.

[Redneck]

Correct

Are they saying its up to you to prove any withholding.

In the State of LA if you do not file a tax return with a W2 attached they will notify you of income reported to IRS and will send you a bill for the full tax plus penalties and interest.

[DaveO]

Nebraska is the same way except they will allow 5% of federal withholding in some cases as an estimate.

[OtisMozzetti]

California

In California, much (not all) of the time you can lay your hands on the "customer service number" to get into the "My FTB Account" display in the www.ftb.ca.gov website as your client's authorized representative. They do have the amounts of withholding tax by employer displayed.

I wonder whether or not the request to Louisiana was presented as effectively as it possibly can be. The tax return could always be filed assuming zero was the withholding, followed by efforts to get whatever withholding there may have been credited to the account.

[taxea]

Here is a cut and paste from notes of a fellow EA's teaching materials.

"Request For Microprint Copies Of Non-SSA Program Related W-2s
The Privacy Act and Section 1106 of the Social Security Act permit SSA to charge an individual a fee for searching, reviewing and providing copies of Forms W-2 for all non-SSA program related purpose requests, as defined in RM 01455.004B. There is a fee of $30 for each year that copies of Forms W-2 are requested, regardless of the number of W-2 copies actually provided for each of the years requested, or whether copies are available for the year(s) requested.

NOTE: This procedure does not cover requests by employers for microprint copies of Forms W-2. Follow your current procedure (GN 03311.005E.) when employer request for microprint copies of Form W-2 is received.

Below are some examples of non-SSA program related purpose requests for copies of Forms W-2.

Filing Federal or State tax returns;
Resolving any State tax discrepancies;
Establishing residency;
Lost form; and
Pension funds.

Also, when no specific reason for the request is provided, it is deemed to be for a non-SSA program related purpose.

The public can request copies of Forms W-2 from SSA by submitting either IRS Form 4506 (Request for Copy or Transcript of Tax Form) or other written correspondence. An individual can request copies of Forms W-2 from the record of someone else if that person tells us in writing to give the copies to the third party. The individual's written authorization should be sent in with the W-2 request and SSA must receive it within 60 days of the date the individual signed it.

Requests for copies are processed in the Office of Central Operation's Division of Earnings Records Operations (OCO/DERO). The mailing address is:

Social Security Administration
Office of Central Operations
Division of Earnings Records Operations
P.O. Box 33003
Baltimore, MD 21290-3003

DERO returns the W-2 microprint within 3-4 weeks of receipt of form IRS 4506 (or equivalent). If you have questions regarding the processing of these requests, contact DERO in the office of Earnings Operations (OEO) per the telephone numbers provided the chart in SM00349.405C."

You might want to cut and paste this into a little notepad text file to keep for future reference.

Chears do you know whether this transcript includes the state info?

[ChEAr$]

Chears do you know whether this transcript includes the state info?

Yes it does, and that was the reason for my post.