A tax form never arrived — what now?

First, check the obvious places

Many employers, banks and brokers post tax forms online instead of mailing them. Sign in to your payroll portal or financial accounts and look for a tax documents section. Check that the payer has your current address, and look in the mail for anything that was forwarded.

Remember the dates: for 2026, Forms W-2 and 1099-NEC are due to you by February 1, 2027. Some brokerage forms and K-1s legitimately arrive later.

Contact the employer or payer

If a Form W-2 or Form 1099-R has not arrived by the date the IRS gives, or it has wrong information, the IRS says to contact your employer or payer first and ask for the form or a corrected one.

Ask the IRS for help after the end of February

If you have contacted the employer or payer and still do not have the missing or corrected form by the end of February, you can call the IRS for help (the number is on IRS Topic no. 154). Have ready your name, address, date of birth and taxpayer identification number, and the employer's or payer's name, address and, if you have it, their employer identification number.

The IRS will then contact the employer or payer for you and send you Form 4852 with a letter of instructions.

Form 4852: a substitute when the form does not come

Form 4852 is a substitute for Form W-2, W-2c or 1099-R. If the missing or corrected form does not arrive in time to file, you can use Form 4852 with your return: you estimate the wages or payments and the tax withheld, using records such as your final pay stub.

If the real form arrives after you file and the figures differ from your estimates, the IRS says you must file an amended return, Form 1040-X.

What about other 1099s?

Form 4852 covers W-2s and 1099-Rs. For other forms, such as a 1099-INT or 1099-NEC, you still report the income even if the form never arrives. Your own records — bank statements, invoices, payment app reports — show what you were paid.

Your IRS wage and income transcript, generally available from the first week in February, can show what a payer reported, if they filed it with the IRS.

Keep a record as you go

Write down when you contacted the employer or payer, who you spoke with and what they said. If you later ask the IRS for help, you can show that you tried the payer first.

Keep your last pay stub of the year, or the payer's statements. They are the starting point for the estimates you would put on Form 4852, and a useful check when the real form finally arrives.

If time is running out

A missing form does not move the filing deadline. If you need more time, you can request an extension by the April filing date, which gives you until October 15 to file. An extension is only for filing: any tax you owe is still due by the April date.