Not Sure about Your Reported Earnings – Get a Transcript

We are all human, and sometimes, we humans don’t keep the best track of our paperwork. This can include tax-related documents. I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t think fondly back to my late teens and early 20s when I was not so organized and would find myself scrambling to find this or that document on April 14th when I was trying to put together my taxes.

Good news, now, you can find out from the IRS what income was reported for you. The IRS calls this your Transcript.

How to Get your IRS Transcript

The first step to getting your IRS transcript is to create an account on the IRS’ website. In order to do so, you will need certain pieces of information including:

• Social Security Number
• Date of birth
• Filing status
• Mailing address from latest tax return
• Email address
• Account number from some sort of loan – credit card, mortgage, student loan, car loan, etc.
• Mobile phone with your name on the account.

If you have an account but have not used it in a long time, you will need to verify your account. This requires the same kind of information.

What if I Don’t Have the Required Information?

If you do not have the information required to obtain an account, you will have to get your transcript by mail. To get a mailed transcript you need:

• Social Security Number or Individual Tax Identification Number
• Date of birth
• Mailing address from last return

What is Available in your IRS Transcript?

There are a number of transcripts available. They include:

• Tax return transcript – this contains information from the actual returns you have filed. It goes back a couple three years. If you need your adjusted gross income (AGI) from a prior year, this is where you should look.
• Tax account transcript – this contains basic data including taxable income and all payment types. You can access the current tax year and go back as far as 10 years.
• Record of account transcript – This combines the prior two types into one transcript. It is available for the current tax year and returns from the past three years.
• Wage and income transcript – This has data that shows your income, including W-2, 1099, 1098, and so on. This goes back up to 10 years.
• Verification of non-filing – This is for if you need a letter showing that you did not file taxes. It goes back three years.

Other information, such as payments you made, are available as well. You can see what is available for you once you obtain an account and access the transcript page.

Conclusion

While it is always better to have the correct documents in hand, if you cannot find them, your IRS transcript is a great way to find certain data you may need to file your taxes. In addition, the transcripts allow you to easily access important tax data going back three to ten years.