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Level 2
September 3, 2025
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Misplaced W2 by TT

  • September 3, 2025
  • 2 replies
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    Best answer by rjs

    @NanaNancy 

     

    Please note that, when multiple people have posted in a thread, we cannot tell who you are replying to unless you indicate it in your reply.


    Your situation is very confusing and hard to follow, not least because you now have information scattered in three different threads. You also seem to have more than one problem. I am going to try to narrow it down and concentrate on one problem.


    You said:

    "However, the problem I am trying to address is for the first time in many years, (TY 2024) our W-2s did not appear on form 1040 in the first line called W-2. Instead they came in on Schedule 1 Part 1, line 8t."


    You gave some information about your 2024 W-2, which I will ask you to verify, but you have not said anything about your W-2s for previous years. The behavior of TurboTax for 2024 is the same as for 2023, so if there is a difference in how your W-2 is reported for those two years, I have to assume that either there is something different on the W-2, or you entered something differently.


    If I understand correctly, on your 2024 W-2 you have the same amount in box 1 and box 11. Is that correct? You also said "nothing is checked in line 12." But box 12 on the W-2 does not have checkboxes. Do you mean that box 12 has no entries, it's blank?


    If W-2 boxes 1 and 11 have the same amount, the correct place for that amount to be reported is Schedule 1 line 8t, and that is where you say it is reported. So now the question is why it was not reported the same way for 2023.


    Did your 2023 W-2 have the same amount in boxes 1 and 11? If box 11 was blank, or if you did not enter the amount in box 11, that would explain why it appeared on Form 1040 line 1a and not on Schedule 1 line 8t. If there is an amount in box 11, after you enter the W-2 TurboTax asks whether the amount in box 11 is money you took out of your nonqualified plan. (Box 11 can be money you took out of the plan, or that you contributed to the plan.) You said you have been receiving payments from the plan, so you should have answered Yes, that it is money you took out of the plan. You would then have to enter the amount again for your state. Then it would go to Schedule 1 line 8t. If you answered No, that it was money you contributed to the plan, or if you skipped the question, then the amount would go to Form 1040 line 1a. (I assume that's what you mean by "the first line called W-2." Line 1a says "Total amount from Form(s) W-2, box 1.")


    As I said, what I have described is the same in both 2023 TurboTax and 2024 TurboTax, so if there is a difference in the results for those two years it has to be because the W-2s were different, or because you entered something differently or you answered the question about box 11 differently.


    If you have further questions, please tell us whether you used TurboTax Online or the desktop TurboTax software for each year.

     

    2 replies

    Level 15
    September 3, 2025

    TurboTax does not have, nor did TT ever have, your W-2.   W-2's come from employers.   Did you lose your W-2 after preparing your tax return, or are you in need of obtaining it from your employer?

     

    TurboTax does not have your W-2.   W-2’s come from employers.  There is not a federal or national website that provides W-2’s.   If your employer is partnered with TurboTax to allow the W-2 data to be imported into the software you can do that---but you need the actual W-2 so that you can enter the EIN and the amount from box 1 to import the other data from the W-2---which just saves you the little bit of keying in of the other information.

     

    Every 2024 W-2 that you received must be reported on your 2024 tax return, even if they are for small amounts.  Remember that each one of those W-2’s has your Social Security number on it, and that income was reported to the IRS by the employer.  You do not want trouble with the IRS for under-reporting your income or have your refund delayed by having missing income.

     

    ALL of your W-2’s must be entered on the SAME tax return.  

     

    Go to Federal>Wages & Income to enter a W-2.

    After you enter the first one, you click Add Another W-2.

     

     

    W-2's come from your employer, and they have until January 31 to issue it.  Some employers allow you to import the W-2 through the software, but for security reasons you still need information from the actual W-2 to import it. Some employers have payroll sites that will have your W-2. You might need to phone, text, drop in, email and/or snail mail an old employer to make sure they know where to send your W-2.

     

    https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-forms/get-copy-w-2/L8FTim9MO_US_en_US?uid=m68ee4os

     

    https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/import-export-data-files/import-enter-w-2/L55HzdeDr_US_en_US?uid=m68efe36

     

    And….SAVE YOUR OWN W-2!  TURBOTAX DOES NOT SAVE IT FOR YOU.  TurboTax will not have a copy of it in your account and will not have an image even if you snapped a photo or imported it.  It is up to you to save it for your own records as stated on the back of the W-2. 

     

    If you prepared your return and lost your W-2, you can find the information from the W-2 in the pdf of the return, in the worksheets.  But TT does not have a copy or an image of the actual W-2.   Only the information you entered will be there in the worksheets.

     

     

    You can get a wage and income transcript from the IRS:  It will not show the actual W-2, 1099’s, etc, but will show the income information the IRS received.  It will not, however, show your state information. It will only show the federal information.

    https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript

     

    Or you can pay the IRS $30 for an actual copy of your tax return which will include copies of your W-2’s     

    https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4506.pdf 

     

    **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.**
    NanaNancyAuthor
    Level 2
    September 7, 2025

    I understand all of what you said; sorry I hit send before I really asked my question in detail.

    I have been doing my taxes with TT for more than 20 years and while not a CPA, do understand the lay of the land for my sources of funds and expenditures, and as well I had 30 years in the IT industry so am not uncomfortable with computing.  But in 2024 I find I have had to dig further than ever before into forms and line items and what TT sw does to my input, ie, where it goes on the forms.  

     

    An IRS agent said the reason my return, efiled in April on time, hasn't been closed and my refund sent it that they don't have the W2s for me and my husband.  But the 2 W-2s were captured in income under other income on Schedule 1, Part 1, line 8t.  (The rest of our income is in 1099s.)  So the top line income looks right but it isn't on the primary W2 line on teh 1040, like it used to be!   This is the only thing I can see which looks different from prior returns.  I definitely did say it was a non qualified plan on the inputting. 

    Any ideas?  Thanks! NanaNancy

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    rjs
    Level 15
    Level 15
    September 3, 2025

    See the replies to your other, more detailed, post about your W-2.