My former employer sent two W2s. Neither one notes "Corrected" and all totals are the same, except for the Local tax withheld--one is way too low, and the other appears to be correct (both tied to the correct locality).

All other totals are filled in--income, withholdings, employer info, all the same. The employer did change payroll companies and I have seen that it could cause another W2 to be sent out, but I was under the impression that there would be different amounts to add together instead of the identical (and, apparently, correct) income/tax totals. Or, that there would either be a notation for a corrected W2, or only the additional info on the second one if it was a continuation for needing more room.

I normally file on TurboTax but am not sure how to handle this... entering both as separate W2s doubles my income and everything else, which is incorrect... should I give up and go pay a tax preparer this year?

And, before anyone suggests going to my employer for an explanation... I no longer work there and there has been a breakdown in communication between us for various reasons. I don't expect they will be willing to help, if they even have an answer for this.

Thanks!

~tmk

Do a comparative analysis between your last payslip and the W-2, then use the W-2 that appears to be the most accurate.

The reason there is no "corrected" checked is that it is likely the payroll company realized the first W-2 with the low locality tax was in error, and they corrected the error by re-doing the W-2. the "corrected" is not required because the payroll company had NOT YET submitted the W-2 to the Social Security Administration.

This is where it becomes slightly difficult.

The employer switched payroll companies a few times during the year, and opened a new company file in QuickBooks, apparently on the advice of their accountant and/or attorney, to have a clean set of books to be dealing with their Chapter 11 filing. Result is that we ended up with paystubs showing incomplete amounts, and were always promised through the year that they would be updated to be completely correct. Payroll was handled through a combination of direct deposit and treasurer's checks at various points throughout the year.

I am currently trying to tally up all of the information I have throughout the year, but my final two paystubs only show a portion of the year's totals. Same with the ones prior to the QB New Company File. I'm doing the best I can but it unfortunately looks like I missed (or never received) a few in the middle. Intuit could not help because the ViewMyPaycheck account had been deactivated and the totals they were able to provide were incomplete... they stated it was likely the employer had not updated all of the info while running checks outside of QB, and confirmed that the employer had not issued the W2s through their service.

What a mess.

If I do come up with accurate totals somehow... is it likely that they would submit both W2s to the SSA, thus making it look like I had under-reported my wages by half? Or would the SSA realize that they were duplicate W2s?

If they submitted W-2s that have identical EINs without the "Corrected" box checked, the SSA computer would put a hold on the W-2 and contact the people who submitted them to determine which W-2 was accurate.

That is my whole point: they did NOT submit two W-2s. It is likely the FIRST one with the low local tax withholding was in error and was DISCARDED and NEVER submitted to the SSA.

Thank you for clarifying. I have never had this happen before with any employer and had no idea how this might affect my filing, or quite what was happening. Any question I had been able to Google had implications such as employee (or employer) changed locations, or it was a continuation of the same W2... I didn't know that the SSA would put a hold on a second W2 *IF* received and reach out for clarification. This puts my mind at ease a lot more. As much as I wish I'd received both W2s worth of wages, I definitely did not!

I truly appreciate your help. :) (PS: I would like to give you reputation for both answers but I will have to come back after spreading some more around.)

Thanks; glad to help!

I might recommend, in this case, that you use a professional preparer rather than Turbo Tax. It might cost a little more, but it will pay dividends if there are issues with your return.

Given your situation I would certainly consider a professional preparer for your taxes this year. The others can correct me if I am wrong but that cost can be deducted later, and this year's return can be amended if the situation changes.

If you want to use my professional service, please email me at the email address in my profile.