On my W-2, Box 17 (State income tax) is blank, and on my paychecks I notice State tax withholding; shouldn't Box 17 include the amount that was withheld from my paychecks?

First, you should contact your employer, tell them about the problem, and ask them to issue you a new or corrected W-2.

If you do not receive the missing or corrected W-2 form from your employer, you may call the IRS at 800-829-1040 and ask for assistance. After February 14, the IRS will contact the employer for you and request the missing W-2. This often does the trick, since most employers take phone calls from the IRS seriously.

Before you call the IRS, be prepared to provide the following information:

• your name, address, and phone number
• your Social Security number
• the dates of your employment, and
• your employer/payer's name, address, and phone number.

If you still don't receive the W-2 you need from your employer, you may prepare a substitute W-2 yourself to file with your tax return. To do this, you must complete and file with your return IRS Form 4852, Substitute for Form W-2 or Form 1099-R. The IRS automatically sends you a copy of this form along with a letter containing instructions when you make a phone call as described in Step #2 above.

To complete Form 4852, you'll need to list your total wages, tips, and other compensation you received from the employer, as well as the amount of taxes it withheld from your pay and sent to the IRS. You can use your pay stubs to figure this out.

If you receive the missing or corrected Form W-2 after you filed your return and you discover you made a mistake on your Form 4852 that you need to correct, you'll need to file an amended tax return for the year using Form 1040X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.