Tax Forms & Dates

Last day of the calendar year. Your earnings for the year are final after this date.

December 31th

Last day to e-file or mail federal and VA State income tax forms or to request an extension.

Federal: April 18 Virginia: May 2

First day of the calendar year. Your earnings for the year begin on this date.

January 1st

First day you can mail in federal and state paper form tax returns for the previous year, although you likely will not yet have your necessary W-2 or other documents to do the filing

January 1st

Deadline for employers to mail W-2s to their employees (either by paper or electronically) If you do not receive your W-2 by the end of February, contact your employer. If you worked multiple jobs in a year, you will receive multiple W-2s. The vast majority of people wait until after this date to file their taxes, since without a W-2 it is difficult to accurately determine your tax burden.

January 31st

Deadline for filing federal and VA State income returns that have received extensions.

October 18

Complete a W-4, indicating how much in taxes you'd like withheld from each paycheck You will complete a new W-4 for every job you hold in a year. Some people (independent contractors for instance) will not receive a W-4 and are responsible for manually paying their taxes Complete an I-9, indicating you're eligible for employment in the United States

Whenever you start a new job

1040

- I am completed every April - Anyone can use me - Beware, there is a LOT to fill out

W-2

- I am received in January - There is one of me for every job you work - You can tell how much you earned and how much you paid in taxes by reading me

1099

- I am received in January - You get me if you are not an employee, but were paid by a company - You probably didn't get taxes withheld if you got me, so you may have a big tax bill coming up

W-4

- I am received whenever you start a job - You list information about yourself and your family on me - I determine how much money gets taken out of each paycheck

I-9

- I am received whenever you start a job - You use me to prove that you are eligible to work in the U.S. - You must provide forms of identification when submitting me