Listed as ‘Deceased’ on Your W-2? Don’t Bother Checking Your Pulse
Thousands of taxpayers who have received W-2 forms indicating that they’re dead need not check their pulses. They’re very much alive, and so are the forms.
The Internal Revenue Service announced Friday that taxpayers can go ahead and send in those forms with their returns without correcting them. If they’ve been corrected, that’s OK too.
The errors, which cropped up in places from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., to El Paso, Texas, appeared in Box 15 of the W-2--the form that describes annual earnings, how much tax was paid, and so on. Box 15 is used to indicate such items as deferred compensation, pension plan coverage or a deceased person.
Apparently, according to the IRS, when the number of items in Box 15 was reduced from seven to five, some employment tax software developers overlooked this change or used printing specifications that gave incorrect spacing between the items.
The problem is not related to the Year 2000 computer glitch, IRS spokesman Don Roberts said.
Earlier this week, reports began to surface that thousands of employees around the country had an “X” printed in the box showing them as deceased.
“One of the local funeral directors even called me up to offer a special group rate,” said J. Michael O’Connell, mayor of Saratoga Springs.
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