Recently married, W-2 is going to have wife's maiden name on it. It will be updated to new name at SSA. How much of an issue will this be?

[Garlic Bread]

Ok so here is the scoop. My wife is currently serving in the military. She is overseas. Because of this, we aren't going to be able to change her last name through the SSA until early January. Because of this, her W-2 is very likely going to show up with her maiden name. But by the time we are filing taxes, it will have been officially changed in the SSA. The military is notoriously bad at responding to paperwork in a timely fashion (she submitted for a name change via work almost 6 months ago, and they haven't done it yet). I do not know if we will be able to successfully get a W-2c in time from them before the deadline to file. How much of an issue is this going to be? What should I expect to happen? A few threads here say "turbotax only goes off the SSN", which I will be filing with the correct SSN and the last name that is at the SSA. But the W-2 will likely have the old name still on it.

[DoninGA]

The name on the tax return and the name on the W-2 do not have to match.  Only the Social Security numbers have to match from the W-2 and on the tax return.

Note that you can also file a tax return using the maiden name if that is the name on the current Social Security card.

[NCperson]

@Garlic Bread when you efile, the IRS is going to do a SSN and name match of the name of the taxpayer listed on the top of Form 1040 of YOUR TAX RETURN against the Social Security database.  it won't "accept" unless there is a match.  It's not TT that does this match. it's the IRS.

I wouldn't worry about the W-2 name not matching.  What is critical with this document is the SSN be correct.  The name isn't going to matter.  

[Critter-3]

A name change with SS will probably take  a couple of months to update with the IRS so do NOT make any SS changes until you have filed.   Once the return is accepted you can do the SS name change papers.  

[Garlic Bread]

On the IRS.gov website there is a section for this scenario that says "Contact your employer and institution and ask them to correct the forms to reflect your new name as it appears on your social security card. You can correct the name on copies of Form W-2 and Form 1099 that you use to file your return. Please include a copy of Form 'W-2c, Corrected Wage and Tax Statement' from your employer or corrected Form 1099 with your tax return.", should I not need to worry about this?

[Critter-3]

NO ... they can issue the W-2 form in the old name ... no correction is needed.  Only the SS# needs to be correct and that is not changing. 

[rjs]

When you enter the W-2 in TurboTax, under "employee info" enter the name as it appears on the W-2, whether or not it matches the name on the tax return. Change it if necessary. You do not need to have the employer correct it and you do not need a W-2c.