What you need to do is WAIT for the W-2 you will get by the end of January and do not try to file using a pay stub, which will not match the W-2. Employers have until January 31 to give you your W-2. The IRS will not be accepting returns until January 27, so filing early with inaccurate information is not going to get you an early refund.
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.
EIN's are just like SSN's and are not publicly available. If you have a legal need for it (and you do) then it will be on the W-2 when you receive it. You can't *CORRECTLY* complete your tax return until you have that W-2. Issuer's have until Jan 31st to mail you the W-2. So you should have it in your possession by the end of the first week of Feb at the absolute latest. This is of course, assuming you provided the issuer the correct mailing address for them to send the W-2 to.
That is simply not true. EIN is not private information, even for private organizations. You can google many agencies, banks and their EINs are readily available. The Census Bureau does a poor job of giving temporarily hired workers access to pay stubs in the same way permanent employees can find this information. I have never seen such a poorly run organization. Wasting resources on printed materials when they could spend the extra money so that a human being can have access to information about their own earnings.
Not only that, this forum is ridiculous.
You are correct. EINs are public information and the US Census is the worst I have ever worked for in over 50 years of work history.
Many people are trying to do tax estimates and the programs won't allow you to proceed without an EIN (dysfunctional on their part). You can't even fudge it with all zeroes or whatever.
If you are using the 2020 program to estimate your return then you don't need a number at all ... skip the import option and scroll down to choose the enter it myself option and simply ignore the error messages later.
Yes, the assumption being that I am using a Quicken program, which I am not. I am fudging EINs for the program to be able to give me a decent estimate. Programs that think they're smarter than people are really aggravating, but otherwise, this is a most excellent program that I use.
Yes, all 0's do not work. I used my own EIN. Also, you can find tons of EINs by doing a general web search. I'd rather be able to leave blank, just so I remember to correct the data later. However, I do meticulously check each entry when an actual report such as a 1099 is received, so it's not likely I'd submit the nonsense I put in as a placeholder. Interesting that the Census has info about getting their EIN , but doesn't actually provide it.
Speaking of the Census Bureau, I also worked for them in 2020. Does anyone know if my W-2 will be downloadable or will I need to enter the info manually?
And I would expect that the EIN would be the same for all Census offices, wouldn't it? And do different pieces of the Federal Government even have their own EIN's?
Wait for the W-2 form before you file ... they have until 2/1 to either mail the form or make it available online. They will let you know how to download it if allowed. The IRS has not even posted when they will start processing returns this year ... anticipated it will be 1/27 but it could be later so there is no rush to file.
FYI the original post in this thread was from the beginning of 2020, so it's no longer applicable. I posted here since there had been recent discussion from November. I will obviously not be filing before my W-2 is available, just wondering if it will be importable.
This was posted to REDDIT, here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Census/comments/j6lal7/filing_for_unemployment_insurance/#
When applying, you may need to follow special instructions for a Federal employee. You may be asked for an SF-50 or an SF-8, but if you don’t have those documents, you can let the unemployment office know and see how they want you to complete the application without those forms.
You may be asked for a three-digit Federal Identification Code (FIC) which is 914.
If your paystubs have address or EIN numbers, you can use those in your application.
Here is a list of some Employer Identification Numbers (EIN) for the Regional Offices, so you could use the following if you don’t have other information:
Atlanta 580708638
Chicago 362409412
Denver 840484686
Los Angeles 952037286
New York 135673128
Philadelphia 231538444
If you don’t know what address to use, you can use the Equifax info. The Census uses Equifax Workforce Solutions. (Talx Corporation was bought out by Equifax)
Employer Name/Mailing Address: Bureau of Census - 2020 Decennial Census c/o Equifax Workforce Solutions PO BOX 66945 St. Louis, MO 63166
Here’s an informative post about the SF-50 and lack of work designation.
The NAISC code if you need it: 926110 You can request your employment records from the Census either directly from the Area Census Office (ACO) or through a Privacy Act Request
Thanks for posting that. I tried entering the NY bureau's EIN in TurboTax, and it brought me to a screen where I was supposed to manually enter my W-2 info. So I'm guessing that it will not be available for importing since presumably it would have told me that it was not available yet.
Here is a link to the New York Region Census Bureau. This will allow you to check with them to see if you have the correct EIN.
The EIN database is a continual and ongoing update process in TurboTax. If you are still having difficulty with import then you should manually enter the W-2.
I will echo your comments about the Census Bureau being a total disaster. I am retired, and I thought a good way to serve my country and also pick up a (very little) bit of extra cash would be by assisting with the Census. As important as the census is in determining local needs and even a state's representation in the House of Representatives, one would think it would be run by competent managers. I went through all the basic classes and felt like I could be an asset to them based on my business experience. The on-line training was pretty good, but the introductory classroom orientation was a big joke, run by incompetents that were not qualified to teach a Kindergarten class. And that class was actually pretty good compared to the absolute idiot I ended up reporting to that knew nothing about anything. That was my first experience with the public sector as an employee, and the first job I ever quit in my life. If that is typical of our federal agencies I understand why this country has gotten itself into such a financial and infrastructural mess.
I have already received every thing I need to do my taxes, and I am waiting only for their W-2 showing the paltry sum I earned, which I hoped to retrieve via Turbotax on-line, if I could learn the EIN.
FYI, the IRS is not processing any e-filed or mailed in returns until 12 February; that should give you time to get all the documents.
Here is the IRS announcement.
It is now 2/10 and I haven’t received my W2 for my temporary Census work this summer. Are they going out.
It was one messed up operation.
Here is a list of some Employer Identification Numbers (EIN) for the Regional Offices, so you could use the following if you don’t have other information:
I received my 2020 W-2 on 03Feb2021 via US mail. The tax program I am using did not default any information into the program. The only data imported by the program I am using has been from some 1099's. 0n 07Feb2021 I received an email from the Census instructing that the zip code on the W-2 was incorrect, and provided the correct zip code.
Note that I worked in Dallas, and my W-2 was issued with the Denver EIN and an address in Irving TX.