Form 4852 stands in for a Form W-2 or Form 1099-R that your employer or payer did not give you, or got wrong. The IRS says to try the employer or payer first. RepeatForm helps if you must complete one again: upload a Form 4852 you completed and the current blank, then review.
Tested with the irs.gov edition dated Rev. September 2020
Plainly: this is a lower-fit page. A Form 4852 is usually used once, for one missing or wrong Form W-2 or Form 1099-R. Reuse helps most if you complete one for a second employer or payer, for another year, or for someone else, because your name, social security number and address stay the same. If this is your first and only Form 4852, the benefit is small.
irs.gov says "Form 4852 serves as a substitute for Form W-2, Form W-2c, and Form 1099-R (original or corrected), and is completed by taxpayers or their representatives when" either "Their employer or payer does not give them a Form W-2 or Form 1099-R" or "An employer or payer has issued an incorrect Form W-2 or Form 1099-R." RepeatForm does not decide whether either applies to you.
The form says "Attempt to get your Form W-2, Form W-2c, or Form 1099-R (original or corrected) from your employer or payer before contacting the IRS or filing Form 4852." It then says "If you don't receive the missing or corrected form from your employer or payer by the end of February, you may call the IRS" for assistance. Have your own details and the employer's or payer's name, address and phone number ready; the form lists exactly what to provide.
The form says "The IRS will contact your employer or payer and request the missing form. The IRS will also send you a Form 4852." It adds "If you don't receive the missing form in sufficient time to file your income tax return timely, you may use the Form 4852 that the IRS sent you to file with your return."
Line 4 asks for the year. Lines 7 and 8 are your best estimates, and the form says "The amounts shown on line 7 or line 8 are my best estimates for all wages or payments made to me and tax withheld by my employer or payer named on line 5." On the W-2 side the instructions say "If you don't have complete and accurate information from a Form W-2, use your final pay stub to help complete line 7." Line 9 asks how you determined the amounts and line 10 asks you to "Explain your efforts to obtain Form W-2, Form 1099-R (original or corrected), or Form W-2c." RepeatForm does not estimate any amount.
The form says "Attach this form to the back of your income tax return before any supporting forms or schedules." It also says "Retain a copy of Form 4852 for your records." A completed Form 4852 does nothing until it goes with your return.
The form says "If you receive a Form W-2, Form W-2c, or Form 1099-R (original or corrected) after your return is filed with Form 4852, and the information you receive indicates that the information reported on your original return is incorrect, you must amend your return by filing Form 1040-X." irs.gov also warns "When filing a Form 4852 instead of a Form W-2, there may be delays processing your refund while we verify the information you gave us."
Upload a Form 4852 you completed and the current blank; RepeatForm carries the matching answers across; you review them, then preview the PDF before you export. Use the earlier form as the source, then change what differs.
The IRS publishes a new Form 4852 when the form changes. Carrying an earlier copy into the new one works for many answers, but some fields are renamed or moved and match only partly, so check every line on the new form in Review before you export.
The PDF checked for this page is "Form 4852 (Rev. September 2020)". The About Form 4852 page on irs.gov links the current form. RepeatForm does not supply the blank form: get it from irs.gov.
Form 4852 is attached to your return. The main return has its own page: Form 1040.
If you need to correct a return you already filed, see Form 1040-X.
The form it can replace for wages has its own page: Form W-2.
Form 4852 line 8 mentions lump-sum distributions, which have their own page: Form 4972.
Upload the two versions, check what matched, then inspect the finished PDF before paying.
Start with the Form 4852 you completed before and the current blank.
Review what RepeatForm found before creating Preview.
Inspect the exact completed PDF before paying.
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irs.gov says it is completed when "Their employer or payer does not give them a Form W-2 or Form 1099-R" or when "An employer or payer has issued an incorrect Form W-2 or Form 1099-R." The form first says to attempt to get the form from your employer or payer, and if you do not have it "by the end of February" you may call the IRS. RepeatForm does not decide whether you may use it.
irs.gov says "Depending on the time of year, the IRS may have federal wage information in the form of a wage transcript; check your online account." It also says the IRS may have received a corrected form. If your employer has not provided a W-2, follow the steps on the form and the IRS page "If you don't get a W-2 or your W-2 is wrong."
The form says "Attach this form to the back of your income tax return before any supporting forms or schedules," and irs.gov says "complete Form 4852 and attach it to your tax return." The form and the IRS About page do not describe how to submit it electronically, so ask your tax software or preparer how they handle it, or read the IRS instructions for your return. RepeatForm does not file anything for you.
The form says if the information on it shows that your original return is incorrect, "you must amend your return by filing Form 1040-X." Read the form's instructions for your case.
