Hey Folks,

I am on H1B and working for company A. I haven't got paid since Nov 2008 to till date. But then, my employer provided my W2 Form for earnings between Jan to Oct 08. Can I file my tax returns for partial year being on H1B? Would this affect my H1B status? If so how would it be affected? My employer said that I could do the tax return for Nov and Dec 08 along with FY 2009 returns. Is this advisable? In the mean time I am trying to do my H1B transfer. Please advise...

Thanks in advance,
Sat

On your 2008 tax return, you report only the income you received in 2008. So your W2 is sufficient to file your tax.

If income for work done in 2008 is received in 2009, then it is reported on 2009 tax return.

Thanks MukatA!

I have another quick question.

Hypothetically speaking, say I received W2 form from my employer and filed my tax returns without verifying my W2 form. Later I found out that my wages in W2 is not matching with my gross income. Say, W2 has lower wages than my gross income, should I report this error to IRS? If so, how and if not what will happen? In the same token, what about if w2 has higher wages than the gross income, how to get this corrected after filing tax returns?

Please advise...

Thanks,
Sat

Sat:

The W-2 is the audit trail that the IRS uses to determine your income level. If the W-2 reported amount matches what you actually got in 2008, then you are good to go.

If it is NOT the same, you should go to your employer, identify the error and work out what the correct amount is so your employer can issue a Form W-2C.