W2 Confusion!

<p>Hello! I am confused on the W2 forms that colleges require. My parents sent in their tax documents, which included their 2013 W2's that were filed in the tax return. These W2's were not their "employer-issued" W2's, which one of my colleges required. Do all colleges need the employer-issued W2 forms instead of the ones in my parents' 2013 tax returns?</p>

<p>My apologies for posting this here as well... I'm just extremely confused, and so are my parents, since we thought that we finished all the financial aid stuff already!</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>All W-2s come from your employer… that is who creates a W-2. Usually they are mailed to people (like your parents) and you get multiple copies of the same form (usually there is Copy B to be filed with the federal tax return, copy C for employee records, and a couple of copies of “Copy 2” for state, city, or local return). However, you don’t actually have to send them in with your taxes most of the time now… I file electronically and haven’t sent a W-2 with a return for years. The employer sends a copy of the W-2 to the federal government, and they can just match it to the return with the social security number.</p>

<p>The short answer to your question is that your parents should have at least one extra copy of the W-2 still, and you can just put a photocopy of that in your packet of info for the college (whether you are filing via IDOC or sending directly to the college or whatever). It doesn’t matter which of those several “Copy” numbers or letters they use, they all have the same information on them. If they gave all their paperwork to an accountant to do the returns, the accountants should still have at least one copy of the W-2.</p>

<p>All W-2s are issued by an employer and mailed or made available online to employees. There is no other kind. Who do you think was the issuer of the W-2s your parents included on their returns? There are multiple copies of the W-2 one of which the taxpayer should keep for their records.</p>

<p>Thank you both!</p>

<p>My apologies that I’m completely clueless when it comes to W2’s and everything… We submitted the information to IDOC already, and one of my colleges said that the W2’s were not included (“employer-issued” was the term they used). We included a document that had my parent’s W2 information on it in the IDOC, which was the W2 forms that were in their 2013 tax returns, according to my dad, and he doesn’t understand why that was apparently not accepted by this college (so now I’m wondering if the others that received the IDOC also need a different form/copy of the W2). He does have a copy of his W2 at home, I think, but I’m unsure if my mom does. </p>

<p>My dad isn’t home from work yet, so I can’t be certain what he says, but we did submit the W2 forms that were included in his tax returns, or something of that sort. If all the W2 forms/copies have the same information, is there a reason that it was specified that the W2’s be “employer-issued”? That’s what I’m really confused about… but I will let my dad see this when he gets home, so again my apologies if this was just redundant.</p>

<p>I’m thinking that when the OP is talking about W-2 forms that are not “employer issued,” he/she is talking about W-2 forms that are generated by tax software, based on preparer input off of the actual employer issued W-2 forms. These W-2 forms can then be printed out with the rest of the computer prepared forms. Although they have the exact same information as the employer issued forms (as long as the data entry was done correctly), they are obviously not the same thing as a copy of the original form.</p>

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<p>Was it the actual W-2, did it say W-2 on it, or was it something else? Employer-issued in this context just means not some kind of substitute. If you submitted a copy of an actual W-2, I can only guess that IDOC didn’t scan and process it correctly or perhaps it somehow didn’t get to the school in the electronic transmission. Is it possible you thought you included it but didn’t?</p>

<p>ETA: Did the college give you instructions on how to get the W-2 to them?</p>

<p>Thank you all so much for your help!! I seriously appreciate it.</p>

<p>@ MiddKid86: Haha, yes, that exactly! The forms we submitted were generated by my parents’ tax software, and apparently the college is requesting official copies instead… and I was wondering if almost all colleges require “official” copies instead of ones generated by tax software? Since we did not send the official copies to IDOC, and one of the other colleges I sent it to does not update us on financial aid information, I was wondering if, most likely, we will have to send these “official” copies instead (even though they seem to say the exact same stuff)? I do plan to contact all the colleges by phone tomorrow, since they’re closed now, but I’m trying to gather information to try and understand what they might tell us.</p>

<p>@ annoyingdad: It said “W2” in the top left corner, and it had all the W2 information included. It was not the actual copy. I found the actual versions of my parents’ W2’s and then the ones we sent, and they are different, but have the same information–one is just the official, the other is the one that was made from the tax software my parents used for their 2013 taxes. I know for a fact that the W2 we sent was included, since I checked everything multiple times, so I am really just confused on why it was not specified what kind of W2 was needed… I’m guessing that is what was wrong with the ones we sent in, they weren’t official copies of the actual W2 and instead were software-generated. </p>

<p>I’m guessing now all the colleges I submitted those generated W2’s for will now need the official copies instead? I think I’m starting to understand what exactly happened now… We just did not realize that the official copies were needed instead of software-generated ones, and now we have to fix that. </p>

<p>Yes the colleges will want the official copies of the W-2 forms which your parents were required to receive by January 31. Where are they?</p>

<p>The reality is that you could put any old number into the tax software to generate their forms. The schools want to verify that this is actually what your parents earned. An employer issued W-2 form will be required if they are asking for it.</p>

<p>Like I said, employers are required to issue these to their employees by the last day of January. Your parents should have these. </p>

<p>Oh, wow. Light bulb moment! I understand that now; I completely forgot that they need to verify that the information they submit is correct. I didn’t realize that some people might input wrong numbers into their taxes, although I don’t see why since that is going to the IRs… but wow. Okay, I get it now. They do have the original copies, just didn’t realize that the schools would need them. We just have to photocopy these and get them sent out asap.</p>

<p>Thank you all so much!! If only I would have realized this earlier, could have been avoided… oh well. Thanks again!</p>

<p>Yes, photocopy them. If you didn’t include 1099 photocopies as well (1099-DIV, 1099-INT) if there are any of those, you should send them along as well. Just as with the W-2, they want to see a copy of the original tax document received, not just want is in the tax form. Don’t feel bad, taxes and IDOC are both confusing!</p>