CAN I USE MY PAY STUB TO PREPARE MY TAX RETURN?
Please do not try to use your pay stub to prepare your tax return. It will not match the W-2 that you will get from your employer in just a few short weeks. Your employer has until the end of January to give you your W-2. By waiting for your W-2 you will be able to file accurately. If you try to guess what goes in the W-2 “boxes” and mess up your return, you will need to amend. It takes about 4 months to amend a tax return. The IRS will not be accepting 2019 returns until the end of January — so you can wait for your W-2. If you are hoping to get a quick tax refund by filing early, using your pay stub might have the opposite result. Your tax return will not match the W-2 reported to the IRS by your employer; this may result in rejection of your return — or if accepted, could actually delay your refund for months. And, if you are hoping to get EIC or the refundable amount of the child tax credit, your refund will not be released until late February anyhow. It is much wiser to wait for your W-2 and file correctly.
Your other issue is your filing status. If you were divorced by the end of 2019 then you are now going to file as Single or if you have the children you may be able to file as Head of Household for 2019.
You should not try to use the same account you used to file a joint return for the previous year, since it is too hard to remove all of the information from a joint return and change it to Single. Start your own new account with a new user ID. In order to e-file you will want your 2018 AGI, which you could get from a transcript of your 2018 return--free from the IRS--if you do not have a copy of the 2018 return.
You can get a free transcript from the IRS:
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript
**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**
