How to get your IRS transcripts, and which one you need
Five transcript types, what each one proves, how to pull them online or by mail, and which one a lender, a student aid office or a missing W-2 calls for.
Quick answers
- Which transcript does a mortgage lender want?
- Almost always the tax return transcript, which shows most line items from the return as it was filed. If the lender wants proof of changes made after filing, ask whether a record of account transcript is acceptable instead.
- Can a transcript replace a W-2 I never received?
- For filing purposes, usually yes. A wage and income transcript shows what employers and payers reported to the IRS, which is enough to prepare the return even though it is not a copy of the form itself.
- How far back do IRS transcripts go?
- It depends on the type. Account and wage and income transcripts reach back further through an online account than return transcripts do, and the request-by-mail route covers fewer years than the online one.
The IRS offers five different transcripts, and they answer different questions. Picking the right one first saves a second request, and all of them are free.
The five transcripts
Use a tax return transcript to show what you filed. It replays the original return, most of its figures and the schedules attached to it, and stops there, so nothing the IRS did to the year afterwards appears. Current year and three years back.
A tax account transcript is the basic record of the year: filing status, taxable income, the kinds of payment that posted, and the changes made after the return went in. Through an online account it reaches the current year and the nine before it, and by mail or phone the current year and three prior years.
A record of account transcript joins the two above into one document, for the current year and three back.
Reach for a wage and income transcript when a form never reached you. It gathers what other people reported about you, so the W-2s, 1098s, 1099s and 5498s filed under your number sit in one list, nine years back and capped at roughly eighty-five documents.
A verification of non-filing letter proves a negative, which is what a school or agency wants it for. It carries no return figures, only the fact that the IRS had none processed from you for that year on the day you asked. For the year in progress it cannot be issued until the middle of June.
Which one you actually need
A mortgage underwriter almost always means the tax return transcript. A student aid office usually wants the tax return transcript, or the verification of non-filing letter if there was no return that year. A lost W-2 calls for the wage and income transcript. A question about a refund that has not arrived or a balance you do not recognize calls for the account transcript, and Transcript codes 570, 971 and 846 explains what the lines on it mean.
Get a transcript online
- Go to irs.gov and select Sign in, or open Your Online Account from the homepage.
- Sign in, or create the account first with Sign in or create account. Creating the account walks through the identity check.
- Inside the account, open the tax records section, where the IRS lets you View, print or download your transcripts.
- Choose the transcript type and the tax year you need.
- Download the file and check that it opens before you send it to anyone.
Get a transcript by mail or phone
- On the Get your tax records and transcripts page, choose the request-by-mail route, or call the automated phone transcript service at the number the IRS publishes there.
- Give the Social Security number or individual taxpayer identification number, the date of birth, and the address the IRS has on file for you.
- Choose the transcript type and the tax year.
- Wait for delivery, which the IRS says takes five to ten calendar days to the address it has on file.
- If the address on file is wrong, use Form 4506-T instead, which offers every transcript type by mail, or Form 4506-T-EZ, which offers only the tax return transcript.
If it doesn't work
- The online account will not verify you. Take the video route through the identity check rather than retrying the automated one, or fall back to the mail request.
- The address on file is old. A mailed transcript goes to the address the IRS holds, so change the address with the IRS first or file Form 4506-T, which lets you name where it goes.
- The year you want is older than the type covers. Switch to a type that reaches further back, usually the account or wage and income transcript through an online account.
- The wage and income transcript looks empty for the current year. Payers file their copies through the winter, so the year in progress fills in slowly and is often not complete until the summer.
- The document limit is reached. Past roughly eighty-five income documents the transcript stops, and the remaining forms have to be requested another way.
What you'll need
- An IRS online account, or the address the IRS currently has on file.
- Your Social Security number or individual taxpayer identification number.
- The tax year, and the transcript type the person asking for it actually wants.
- Form 4506-T if you are going by paper.
Why the numbers look redacted
Transcripts arrive partly masked, and this is deliberate rather than a fault. The IRS shows only the last four digits of a Social Security number, the last four of an employer identification number, the first four characters of a first and last name, and the first six characters of the street address.
Money is not masked. Every amount stays fully visible, which is what keeps a masked transcript usable for preparing a return or verifying income. If a lender or a school needs to match the document to a particular file, they can have an optional Customer File Number entered on the request, and it prints on the transcript.
Using a wage and income transcript to rebuild a year
If a year is missing because the paperwork is gone, the wage and income transcript is usually enough to file it. It shows what employers, banks and platforms reported to the IRS under your number, which is the same data the IRS will match your return against.
Treat it as a data source rather than a copy of the forms. The identifying details are masked and the money is not, so the amounts can go straight onto the return while the names and numbers may need filling in from your own records. State withholding is often missing as well, since the IRS does not always receive it, so a state return may still need the original form.