Most tax problems hourly workers face are a handful of specific issues that keep recurring. A former employer won’t send the W-2. An IRS letter arrives asking for documents. Back taxes from three years ago surface. A 1099-G shows unemployment income you never thought was taxable. A refund’s been stuck for months. Each one has a specific fix.
This guide pairs each common problem with the form or phone number that actually resolves it.
What’s going on in your case?
Can’t get your W-2 from a former employer? Read “Missing W-2.”
IRS letter you don’t understand? Read “IRS letters.”
Owe taxes you can’t pay? Read “Owing what you can’t pay.”
Refund late or missing? Read “Refund problems.”
Got a 1099-G for unemployment you forgot about? Read “Unemployment 1099-G.”
Haven’t filed prior years and worried? Read “Unfiled back taxes.”
Someone filed using your SSN? Read “Identity theft.”
Missing W-2
Employers are required to send W-2s by January 31. If it’s past mid-February, run through this in order.
Check alternative delivery first. A lot of W-2 problems are actually portal problems. Big employers now deliver W-2s through:
- Walmart: OneWalmart > My Money > W-2 Management, or MyTaxForm.com (employer code 10108) for former employees
- Target: Workday for current; paperlessemployee.com/target for former
- Kroger: MyInfo portal (limited for former employees)
- Home Depot: MyTHDHR > Self Service > Pay and Taxes
- Lowe’s: MyLowesLife > My Wealth; mytaxform.com code 11116 for former
- CVS, Walgreens, McDonald’s, others: usually paperlessemployee.com, Workday, or UKG
- Burger King, Wendy’s, Taco Bell franchises: varies entirely by franchise. Contact your franchise HR, not the corporate brand.
For company-specific walk-throughs, see each employer’s dedicated W-2 page on WorksPerk.
Still nothing? Call the former employer’s payroll department and ask which address the W-2 was mailed to. Update it. Request a reissue.
If it’s getting close to April 15 and nothing has worked, file Form 4852 (Substitute for Form W-2) with your best estimate based on your last pay stub. The IRS will follow up with the employer on its end.
One other thing worth doing even before you think you need it: get your IRS Wage and Income Transcript for free at IRS.gov. It shows every W-2 and 1099 the IRS has on file under your SSN. Available by mid-February each year. Won’t show state tax withholding, so it’s not a complete replacement, but it confirms the federal numbers.
See also: how to read your W-2 form box by box.
IRS letters
The IRS sends a lot of different letters, and reading the notice code at the top tells you most of what you need to know.
CP2000 says the IRS’s third-party data (employers, banks, brokers) doesn’t match what you reported. Usually it means you missed a 1099. The notice shows what they think the right numbers are. Read carefully, agree or disagree by the deadline, pay if you agree.
CP59 says you didn’t file a return the IRS expected. File the missing return. See the section on unfiled back taxes below.
CP75 asks for documentation. This is usually an audit of your EITC or CTC claim. You have 30 days to send proof of your child’s residency (school records, medical records, lease), relationship (birth certificate), and earned income (pay stubs, bank statements). Your refund is frozen until you respond.
CP14 is the first notice that you owe money. It starts the collection process. You can pay, set up a payment plan, or dispute.
LT11 or LT1058 (Final Notice of Intent to Levy) is serious. You have 30 days to request a Collection Due Process hearing before the IRS can garnish wages or levy bank accounts.
CP11 or CP12 says the IRS recalculated your return. You either owe more or get more back. If you disagree, you have 60 days to respond.
Letters 6470, 6475 are informational, about stimulus or advance CTC reconciliation. Usually no action needed, but keep for your records.
The one rule with IRS letters: never ignore one. Even if you can’t pay, even if you don’t understand it, responding by the deadline keeps things from escalating. If you need help interpreting a notice, VITA sites and Low Income Taxpayer Clinics both help free.
Owing what you can’t pay
You have more options than most people realize, all of them free to set up.
A short-term payment plan gives you up to 180 days to pay with interest and penalties still accruing but collection actions paused. For balances under $100,000. Set up online at IRS.gov/payments in a few minutes.
A long-term installment agreement spreads payments over up to 72 months. Setup fees range from $31 for direct debit online to $225 for paper. For balances under $50,000 you can set it up entirely online. Interest still accrues, but the IRS leaves you alone as long as payments are on time.
An Offer in Compromise lets you settle for less than the full amount if paying would cause undue hardship. Free to apply on Form 656. Eligibility is strict and success rates sit around 30-40%. Decisions take 6-12 months. The “tax relief” companies on TV offering to do this for $3,000+ are charging for something you can do yourself.
Currently Not Collectible status is for people who genuinely can’t afford any payment without giving up basic needs. Interest accrues but collection stops. Call 1-800-829-1040 or file Form 433-F.
First-Time Penalty Abatement removes the first penalty if you have a clean three-year filing history. Call and ask. The IRS grants it more often than you’d expect.
Refund problems
Check status at IRS.gov/Where’s-My-Refund or the IRS2Go app.
If it says “still processing” after 21 days, it’s usually one of a few things. The PATH Act holds EITC and ACTC refunds until mid-February. Identity verification may be required (the IRS sends a 5071C letter). There may be a math error (you’ll see a CP notice). Or a bank might have rejected the direct deposit, which triggers a paper check to your address on file.
If the IRS says the refund was mailed 4+ weeks ago and you haven’t received it, file Form 3911 (Refund Trace). For direct deposit that never arrived, call the IRS directly to start a trace.
If the refund arrived smaller than expected, check your mail for a notice. Common reductions: the Treasury Offset Program pulled it for past-due child support, federal student loans, or state taxes; the IRS recalculated your credits; errors you didn’t catch.
If you put the wrong bank account on your return, the IRS can’t redirect. If the bank returns the deposit, the IRS mails a check. If the bank accepts it into the wrong account, you’re stuck recovering from the account holder, usually through a dispute with the bank.
Unemployment 1099-G
Unemployment is federally taxable income. Every state that paid you unemployment during 2025 sent a 1099-G to you and to the IRS by January 31.
If you didn’t withhold taxes from unemployment, you may owe at filing time. Twenty weeks of $400/week unemployment is $8,000 of taxable income. Depending on your bracket, that could be $800-$1,600 owed.
If you moved between states during the year, check for 1099-Gs from every state.
If the 1099-G is wrong (says you received money you didn’t, or lists fraudulent claims), contact the issuing state immediately. File a fraud report with them. On your federal return, report only what you actually received and attach a statement explaining the discrepancy.
Unfiled back taxes
The IRS keeps records. Missing years catch up with you eventually.
First, figure out which years. Get an Account Transcript for each year you’re unsure about at IRS.gov/get-transcript. It shows what’s on file.
Gather records. Your Wage and Income Transcripts show W-2s and 1099s the IRS has for you, usually going back 10 years.
File the missing returns. Most tax software supports back years. File in the year’s original format. Paper mail to the IRS, because e-file typically only accepts the current year and two prior.
If you owe, go back to the payment plan section above.
The IRS’s policy statement 5-133 says you generally only need to file the last six years to get back into compliance. Focus there unless a specific year will generate a refund, which brings up the other rule worth knowing: you can only claim a refund for up to three years after the original due date. A 2022 refund can still be claimed until April 15, 2026. After that, it’s gone.
Identity theft
Warning signs: the IRS rejects your e-filed return because your SSN was already used, you get a notice about a return you didn’t file, you get a W-2 from an employer you never worked for, or your refund was already sent somewhere that isn’t you.
The fix involves several steps in parallel.
File Form 14039 (Identity Theft Affidavit) with the IRS. Place a fraud alert with the three credit bureaus. Report to the FTC at IdentityTheft.gov (this generates a recovery plan). Request an IP PIN from the IRS. Once you have one, no return can e-file under your SSN without it. File your own real return on paper with Form 14039 attached.
Your legitimate refund gets delayed, often 4-6 months while everything sorts out. But you will get it.
Free tax help (which exists and works)
IRS Direct File is the IRS’s own free filing tool, available in 25+ states for 2026. Handles EITC, CTC, and most common situations.
IRS Free File partners with several tax software companies to offer free federal returns to anyone earning under $84,000.
VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) puts IRS-certified volunteers in community sites to prepare returns for free. Income limit around $67,000. Find sites at IRS.gov/vita or 1-800-906-9887.
MilTax is free software and expert consultants for active-duty military, National Guard, Reserve, and recent veterans.
AARP Tax-Aide does free prep with flexible income limits despite the name. Anyone qualifies. The focus is seniors and low-to-moderate income filers.
Low Income Taxpayer Clinics (LITCs) handle the harder stuff: disputes, audits, appeals, collections. Find one at taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/litc.
When to actually call the IRS
1-800-829-1040 is the individual taxpayer line. Wait times are 30-90 minutes. Best call times are 7-9 AM Eastern.
1-800-908-4490 is specifically for identity theft.
The Taxpayer Advocate Service (1-877-777-4778) is free and independent. If you’ve tried to resolve something with IRS and hit a wall, they can usually unblock it within days.
The things not to do
Don’t pay a tax relief company advertising on TV. They charge thousands for what you can do yourself.
Don’t ignore IRS letters. Interest and penalties compound.
Don’t agree to payments you can’t actually afford. Currently Not Collectible is a real option.
Don’t invent numbers on a return. The IRS catches most of it through third-party reporting, and the penalty for filing false information is much worse than the penalty for filing accurately with a balance due.
Connected benefits
If tax issues connect to a job loss or income drop, you probably qualify for more than you’re pursuing. Unemployment if you were separated. SNAP if grocery bills are an issue. EITC for any prior year you qualified and didn’t claim, up to three years back. Medicaid if you lost employer health coverage.
The IRS doesn’t talk to benefit agencies. Income changes that matter for one program don’t automatically flow to the other. Apply separately.