Every year, your Brooklyn tax preparer requires certain information to do your taxes. Without this information, he or she cannot prepare an accurate return. It could also cause you to miss out on valuable deductions or credits when computing your tax. Keeping records is extremely important for tax purposes.
There are occasions, however, where you know you should receive certain documentation, but it has not arrived yet. What can you do? EB Tax Consultants can point you in the right direction when it comes to finding missing tax information. Follow the below tips to get started.
You should receive a W-2 from every place where you were employed in the past year. Your employer is required to provide you with a W-2 by the end of January each year. If you have not received your W-2 by the first or second week in February, you may need to take action.
You should first get in touch with your employer. If they have already mailed the return, it may be on the way back to your employer with an incorrect address. It also could have gotten lost in the mail. Your employer can reissue or resend your W-2, and you should allow them time to do so.
If you have not received your W-2 by about Valentine’s Day, even after discussing the issue with your employer, you may need to contact the IRS. You will need to provide the IRS with your personal information as well as information about your employer, including the business or employer name and address, phone number, dates of employment, and an estimation of the wages that you have earned and income tax withheld. Check your last pay stub for an estimation of this information.
Form 1099 is used for a variety of income types, from interest to contractor payments. You need to have all of this information to file an accurate tax return. If you are missing a form that shows how much interest you have earned from the bank or another financial institution, call customer service to check on the status of the missing form. They may be able to send another one out or provide you with online access to print it yourself.
Investment brokers and other financial institutions should also be able to provide you with 1099 forms that reflect how much dividends or income from stocks you have received. Again, you may also be able to download this information from their website as well. Banks, brokers, and other financial institutions often e-mail this information, so be on the lookout for that as well.
If you have earned money as a contractor, freelancer, or other self-employed business, you should also receive 1099-MISC forms from clients. Only clients that have paid you over $600 are required to prepare and remit these forms. Even if you did not receive this form, you must still report the income to the IRS. If you are unsure how much you earned from a particular client, you may want to contact them to request the missing forms.
Most filers will need their prior year tax return to fill out the current year’s return. If you cannot locate yours or your previous tax preparer for some reason does not have the return, you can contact the IRS for a copy of last year’s tax documents. Your Brooklyn tax preparer can do this on your behalf, but you can also do this on your own as well.
You can get a free copy of your tax return information from the IRS by ordering over the phone, on the internet, or by mail. The IRS keeps the current and past three years of tax returns for each individual tax payer.
Your tax return transcript will reflect most of the line items from your tax return as it was originally filed, but it is not an actual copy of your tax return. An actual copy of the return will involve a fee and takes much longer to process. If you need to know about any changes the IRS made to your return, you will want to request a tax account transcript. If you order online or by phone, you can expect to receive your tax return transcript within five to ten days from the time the IRS receives your request.
Even if you are missing information, you need to take action by April 15. You can file for an extension if necessary, and EB Tax Consultants can help with that process. You can also file with missing information and then file an amendment later to add the missing information, and we can help with that as well. We can also help you track down other information as needed in some situations. Click our profile link below to find out more or use the Contact button to set up an appointment.
ERNIE BUSTAMANTE