W-2..Tax question...

Ok so due to personal reasons I had to leave my job at Perkins...Not the smartest choice because now we are broke but it was the best decision I could make for myself. Now Ive had to deal with the management company before and it was NOT a pleasent experiance. The people that work there are rude and ignorant and once I told them I was a former employee it just got worse. It took weeks to get one simple request process when it could have just taken an hour. Anyways its getting to that time of year where I should get that lovely chunk of change from taxes. I had the maximum amount taken out of my checks and reported my tips really high to get more money taken out. I know that at H&R Block where I get my taxes done I could have taken my last paystub in and gotten them done quickly. But in my computer desk cleaning spree I accidentally thru it out. I just emailed the company asking them how I should expect to receive my W-2 if they will mail it to me (they have my correct address) or if I will need to go to the store that I worked at and pick it up. I really dont want to go there because I left on pretty bad terms with the manager. So basically what Im asking is if anyone has had an experiance like this with a former employer and could help shed some light on this for me Id appreciate it. I really want to get my W-2 as soon as possible so I can get my taxes done and hopefully get a good refund...Also another dumb question I know that my boyfriend claimed me last year because I wasnt working when he got his taxes done from his other job. Now this year he wasnt working and I also made about double what he did for last years taxes. So can I claim him then if I claim head of household and do you think Id get more money back because I made more than he did. I know he only got about $300 or something like that for me. It wasnt much but he still got a good refund because with some of the money he bought the engine for my car. Ughhhh Im ready for this to be over because I just need the money right now to get groceries and stock up on cat food dog food and try and pay ahead on our electric bill and hopefully get our sattelite paid off even if it has to stay shut off (Thankfully we are only 80 behind on that and not more) Ok Im ready to go back to being 16 and having my mom pay all the bills!!!! Being a grown up bites!!!!!

Sorry for being a whiney brat!! I just hate this whole tax thing because its like a foreign language to me and I just dont understand any of it except I get money from it!

I believe that employers have until Jan 31 to send out W2 slips. I have always gotten them in the mail from current and past employers. Give it a little more time. I haven't gotten either of mine yet.

I know they have till then to do it. But Ive had problems before where it was supposed to get mailed and never showed up and then I give them time and then have to take more time to go and contact their corporate peoples and go thru that hassle of finding people who know what they are talking about...**Arghhhhh tax season SUCKS** lol I guess since it popped into my head randomly if I got a headstart on trying to find out what would happen maybe I would get stuck in the hassle of trying to get an appt to get my taxes done and stalking the mail lady or anything like that. I guess it kind of falls into the better safe than sorry deal where I bug them now rather than later when Im P.Oed at them for being pokey. lol

You may want to contact the corporate people now to ask if there is an online option. If there is, it will likely be available sooner.

You won't be able to get it from the location you worked with - Perkins is big enough that the W2 is going to be mailed from their corporate office. And until they run year end payroll to produce the W2, it's not going to be available to you at all.

Don't know which way you should setup your filing. If you can put together your 1040 by yourself, do it a couple of ways (filing separately, filing jointly with each of you as primary) until you find what works out in your favor.

You also might want to check irs.gov re claiming him as an qualifying dependent as well as designating yourself as head of household. I believe there are a series of tests to pass to be claimed on someone's tax return (which you may pass), but I'm not sure whether you can then put yourself down as head of household.

BTW, have you thought of using Turbotax - it really is a good program. There are other good software packages as well - and they're designed to walk you through questions like this, as well as tell you what sort of documentation you need as support.

And, with turbotax (which you can also do on line, you don't have to buy a CD), you don't actually pay any fees until you go to file - it can be a good exercise in seeing what options are best for you re filing.

Good new: I found a "Contact Us" tab on the management companies website and emailed them and asked basically my questions about my W-2's. Someone actually got back to me and basically because they are not a part of corporate Perkins (basically its not a real Perkins) they are owned and managed by a management company (JDK owns all Perkins, Quaker Steak and Lubes, and Hampton Inns in most of Pa) its a smaller operation for them to do the whole deal and each different business they own is taken care of by different people. So basically the person that is handling the Perkins end of their stuff is the one that got ahold of me. And thank heavens I dont have to go to the store to pick it up they will mail it to me. He is also going to try and give me an approx date which it should be mailed out so I can make sure to check my mailbox for it. From what Ive gathered out of his email back is that they are already pretty well done with all that stuff so thats good! Now I just need to get the thing in the mail and make my appt at H&R Block...My handy dandy tax peoples!!


*I would like to try the Turbo Tax thing because I bet its cheaper than going to H&R Block but I dont trust myself not to screw it up. Id also just have my moms accountant do it but I dont trust her to deal with my money since she stole $600 bucks from me when I had a joint acct with her....Needless to say that acct was closed immediately!*

TurboTax is great and I have been using it for years. It is basically "idiot proof" and will walk you through each aspect. If there is an error, it will tell you that too. It also keeps a running total of your refund. Which is nice.

If you contact the company again, you may be able to get a code for w2express. My company has that and I will be getting my w2 online on the 22nd.

Another vote for TurboTax. I was surprised how good it was -- it even alerted me to a benefit I hadn't been aware of!

Has anybody ever used TurboTax when filing in two states? I used it before and I like it but I worry because I have to file in two states this year.

Im going to google the Turbo Tax today and get some info about it. Maybe it would just be easier for me to do it myself and at home then going to have someone else do it. Im HORRIBLE with numbers and math type stuff I get it all messed up so I want something completely IDIOT PROOF lol!!!

I dont know if JDK Management participates in something online for W-2s. I know a while back (yrs and yrs ago) I needed a W-2 and couldnt get ahold of the company and found it online at some website my get my w-2. com type deal but its something Ill have to do some google (or bing) searching on today!!!

Thanks for all your advice...Now if I could just get the darn thing and have this all done and over with so I get a little breathing room with bills and groceries..We are almost out of food!