Are businesses required by law to mail you your W-2 by Jan. 31st?

I called the place I used to work at and gave the new manager my new address so I could get my W-2. I live 4 hours from where I used to work. She agreed to mail it too me as soon as she received them. When January 31st rolled around I did not get my W-2. So I called and was told by the manager that," If I wanted it I was going to have to come get it because the owner of the store will not allow her to mail it. They do not mail any W-2's. I live 4 hours away!! So now I have to drive 4 hours to pick up a W-2 that any other company would have mailed to me. At least every company I have ever heard of mails them after you no longer work there and you live that far away. Is it just me or is this ridiculous? I was told by someone that I needed to call the Better Business Bureau on them because that was against the law. I hate to do that but it is a very big inconvenience for me at this time to make that trip.

I talked to the Distict Manager the other day and she told me it was in the safe. The owner of the business will not allow her to mail it. My friend filed a complaint with the IRS on them last year for this.

You could contact the IRS and ask them what you should do if your employer refuses to mail your W-2. You might (not sure) get a better specific answer about what to do than if you contact the BBB.

http://www.irs.gov/

You are correct, they have to mail it to you and you should call the BBB.

Yeah that's illegal. It has to be post marked by the 31st of January.

That is an inconvenience! You should absolutely report them!

Call the IRS and report them. The W2s are to be postmarked and mailed by the 31st of January. There is a penalty with the IRS if an employer doesn't do that.

I just looked it up, employers are REQUIRED to mail these by January 31st. I would call again and ask that they mail it. If you are told no again ask for a higher level manager.

If they still tell you no, send them a letter via registered return receipt mail asking them to mail it. If they don't pay attention to that, they are truly idiots and you'll have to go to the BBB or complain to your local IRS office.

YES. By law, they are supposed to provide you the W-2 by Jan 31st. I would report them to either the BBB or call the IRS and ask what can be done so you are not delinquent in filing your taxes. The story about not being allowed to mail; is a crock of S**t- They probably are not running their business on the up and up.

They are REQUIRED to mail it to you OR deliver it to your hand by Jan 31st. They don't get a choice. They can NOT require you to pick it up. If you have not received it by this Friday, call the IRS at 1-800-TAX-1040 and file a missing W-2 complaint. The IRS will get involved and you'll have your W-2 in a few days.

Don't waste your time contacting the BBB. There's nothing that they can do. They are not a law enforcement agency nor do they have anything to do with tax issues. The BBB is a "club" for business owners and little else. If they receive a complaint about a member business, they just pass it to the member business but are otherwise powerless to act. And if the business isn't a member they'll just toss the complaint in the trash.

The Better Business Bureau is not going to help you at all, and the Federal Law states that the business MUST mail out W-2 forms if they can't give them out on the job.
You call office one more time, tell them(her) that it has to be in the mail IMMEDIATELY or you will be filing a complaint
with the federal government dept. that handles compliancy with the law. If that doesn't shake it out of them-make the call and start the complaint.

I'm sorry this is happening to you. Some employers are still mailing W-2 forms out (mid-February). Do you still have your final pay stub from last year? Do you have the employer's EIN or FEIN number on the pay stub? Are you going to e-file or paper file? If you don't have all the pay stub info and you're e-filing, then call the employer and ask for this information. Tell them that you can't drive 8 hours round-trip to get your W-2 form.

All of you should sit down and relax.....

Here's the way the IRS says it should be done...

Your employer is required to provide or send Form W-2 to you no later than January 31, 2008. If it is mailed, you should allow adequate time to receive it before contacting your employer. If you still do not get the form by February 15, the IRS can help you by requesting the form from your employer. When you request IRS help, be prepared to provide the following information.
- Your name, address (including ZIP code), and phone number.
- Your SSN.
- Your dates of employment.
- Your employer's name, address (including ZIP code), and phone number.