2018 W-2 rec'd after filing showed wages never rec'd. Contacted co. and got a check for missing wages in Feb. '19. File amended return for '18 or show as income for '19?

[jollyrogers]

My husband worked briefly at a company in 2018 and he never received a paycheck for 2 days of work. We received a late W-2 showing the amount paid as wages in 2018 after filing our taxes. We contacted the company letting them know he never actually got a paycheck, and they issued one in Feb. 2019. Do we file an amended return for 2018 for this W-2, or since he didn't actually get paid until 2019 do we report it on our 2019 tax return?

[MichaelMc · Accepted solution]

This may require one more call to the employer. If they are not correcting the 2018 Form W-2, then the IRS still has the information from Copy A, and will be expecting to see that income reported on your 2018 Form 1040 tax return.

I think the solution that will have the fewest obstacles in the road will be for you to consider the February 2019 check as a good-faith reissue of a check that never reached you in 2018, and file an amended 2018 tax return to include the Form W-2.