No w2 - salary considered a "loss"??

Utah//

I worked for my employer several years. Beginning 2004 I was issued paychecks no showing tax information, just a regular check with my regular pay minus the amount of what I normally would pay in taxes. I worked for that company January and February and a small part of March 2004, and started a new job due to the financial difficulties of my previous employer (a small 2 person company). I've just learned that my employer never paid taxes on my salary, and I will not be receiving a w2. I was told the payments were considered a loss, and has not been reported. So what do I do in this case? Report it, not report it? If I report it will I be paying taxes on the income that should have already been taxed? If I do, then how? what if I don't?

seems to me you have two options in terms of reporting:

1. if you know what your gross was, you certainly know what your net was, you can calculate ss\medciare (7.65%) and if utah has a flat tax rate on wages you can determine that, the rest is fwt. use those as your w-2 wages and attach a statement to your return explaining the situation & how you calculated your w-2

2. simply claim the net as misc non-employee compensation & pay the SE tax on it (after reducing it for any business expenses if applicable) in additon to your ordinary income tax. again, may want to disclose on a statement the situation and how you decided to treat the payments.

oh, you could always call the irs & inform them, maybe there were some 1st qtr payroll filings that would shed some light on the issue

good luck

Thank you for the reply and the options.
I did try to do the numbers as if the money earned was self employed, but I would end up paying the fed. gov. over 1,000 alone (which I don't have, and shouldn't have had to pay anyway), when normally I get a return. Option 1 sounds good, although I know my prev. employer didn't pay the taxes because of lack of funds to do so, therefore I would be getting a return on taxes never paid. . . but I shouldn't have to be responsible for this, should I?

you, the employee, are not responsible for the employer NOT paying what are called "trust fund" monies. you should however be in a position to show that you were treated as an employee & somehow show that monies were withheld.

if you had some sort paycard that shows hours worked & hourly rate, that would most likely suffice, if they showed hours & hourly rate in the memo portion of the check, that would work, any letter to offer employment, etc., anything that you can show to support your position that you were indeed employed.

if you don't have any of this then you'll have a tougher go of it if questioned.

again, good luck.