How do I use the wage and income transcript ?

I moved and lost my w-2's and now have the wage and income transcript but no idea how to use it to do my taxes and I can't find any instructions or help anywhere

MY TRANSCRIPT DOES NOT DISPLAY MY FULL EIN NUMBER

I am mailing in 4 years of back taxes. On my 2015 taxes I don't have my W-2 for one of my jobs. I have a Wage and Income Transcript. I used that info for my missing W-2. Can I mail the transcript in, in place of my W-2?  Or can I get a replacement W-2 from an employer that is no longer in business?

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@tomsk01 wrote:

Can you give me the # need for this form?  We filed, but you call and we can never connect and therefore I cannot get my 2020 taxes done.  I got from the IRS an Account transcript, but need the income wage transcript.  Everytime I go and set up profile it says I can't.  Please help

 

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If you cannot obtain the W-2 from your employer, then for a fee you can get a complete copy of a W-2 from the Social Security Administration - https://faq.ssa.gov/en-us/Topic/article/KA-02501

You can get a free Wage and Income transcript from the IRS - https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript

For a fee of $43 you can get a complete federal tax return to include copies of W-2's, if you mailed the tax return and included a paper W-2, from the IRS by completing Form 4506 - http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4506.pdf

See this IRS Tax Topic - http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc159.html

If she can't get a copy from her former employer, please see TurboTax Expert BMcCalpin's excellent explanation to a similar post here:

"The Wage & Income transcript reports only "data from information returns we receive such as Forms W-2, 1099, 1098 and Form 5498, IRA Contribution Information." (see https://www.irs.gov/individuals/tax-return-transcript-types-and-ways-to-order-them). That is, the Wage and Income Transcript does not show your tax return, but the income forms that were copied to the IRS. This is often used to build a prior year tax return for taxpayers who did not file in a previous year, and who have misplaced their tax documents.

Using the Wage & Income Transcript, you can see the information that was reported on each W-2, 1099, and the other forms. If you are creating a prior year return from scratch, then you can look at the Transcript as the source of information to enter in place of the paper forms.

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However, depending on what you need a transcript for, you may find the Tax Transcript more useful. Please see the following discussion.
 

You can see a sample IRS tax transcript at this link - https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/New_Tax_Return_Transcript.pdf

The items that can be on a return are listed by description rather than by line number. For example, in the following transcript of a 2017 tax return (see below at ***),
 

• Income refers to the income section on page 1 of the 1040 (see https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/f1040--2017.pdf)
• WAGES, SALARIES, TIPS, ETC refers to line 7
• TAXABLE INTEREST INCOME refers to line 8a
• TAX-EXEMPT INTEREST refers to line 8b
• and so on.

***Part of sample tax transcript at the IRS website***
 

Income
WAGES, SALARIES, TIPS, ETC: $13,000.00
TAXABLE INTEREST INCOME: SCH B: $0.00
TAX-EXEMPT INTEREST: $0.00
ORDINARY DIVIDEND INCOME: SCH B: $0.00
QUALIFIED DIVIDENDS: $0.00
REFUNDS OF STATE/LOCAL TAXES: $0.00

ALIMONY RECEIVED: $0.00 BUSINESS INCOME OR LOSS (Schedule C): $2,500.00 BUSINESS INCOME OR LOSS: SCH C PER COMPUTER: $2,500.00

By crawling through the tax transcript you can rebuild a completed tax return with all the important numbers (and quite a few less important ones)."

@ransley1218