Building Your First W-2 Return

Anthony walked in the last week of January with his packet.

One W-2. His marriage certificate from last September — he’d mentioned the wedding in passing three months ago and the preparer had made a note. A 1099-B from a brokerage he’d forgotten about until his wife reminded him this morning.

He sat down across the desk. “Same as every year, I think,” he said.

The preparer already knew it wasn’t. “Not quite,” she said. “You got married in September. That changes things. Good things — but I need to ask you some questions before we start.”

She picked up a pen and her intake sheet.

“Let’s go through it from the beginning.”

This is what everything you’ve learned in Module 4 looks like in practice. We’re going to walk through Anthony’s return start to finish — the intake conversation, the document review, the filing status decision, the W-2 entry, the verification, and the final numbers. By the end of this lesson you should feel like you’ve sat at the desk and done this.

Every return starts before you open the software. The intake conversation is where you learn what kind of return this is going to be. You ask questions. You listen. You take notes. You do not assume anything is the same as last year.

Here are the questions the preparer asked Anthony, and why each one matters:

Eight questions. Eight chances to catch something. Three of them yielded information that changed the return: the marriage, the wife’s income, and the brokerage account. “Same as every year” was not accurate. It never is without asking.

Anthony married his wife Sarah on September 14. Under IRS rules, if you are legally married on December 31 of the tax year, you are considered married for the entire year. Anthony and Sarah must file as Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately.

The preparer’s question: Any reason not to file jointly? Student loans? Tax compliance issues? — No and no. Sarah had $22,000 in W-2 wages and no complications. MFJ is the correct and clearly better option.

MFJ impact on Anthony’s return:

The preparer lays out every document on the desk before touching the software. This is a professional habit. See everything. Know what you have before you start entering.

Anthony’s document stack:
☐ Amazon W-2 (Anthony) — Box 1: $55,000. Box 2: $6,100. Box 12a: D — $2,600. Box 12b: DD — $6,800. Box 13: Retirement Plan checked. Box 14: RSU — $1,400.
☐ Part-time employer W-2 (Sarah) — Box 1: $22,000. Box 2: $1,900. Box 13: not checked.
☐ 1099-B from brokerage (Amazon shares sold) — proceeds $1,450, basis $1,400, short-term gain $50.
☐ SSNs for both Anthony and Sarah — confirmed.

Mental checklist before entering:
Total W-2 wages: $77,000. Total federal withholding: $8,000. Additional income: $50 short-term capital gain from 1099-B. Box 13 checked on Anthony’s W-2 (retirement plan participant). No IRA contributions to deduct. No itemized deductions — standard applies. No dependents. No ACA marketplace coverage.

Personal information: Anthony and Sarah’s names, SSNs, address, filing status — Married Filing Jointly. Date of marriage doesn’t go on the return, but you confirm MFJ is correct because of it.

W-2 entry — Anthony: Enter each box that has a value. Box 1: $55,000. Box 2: $6,100. Box 3: (Social Security wages — confirm amount). Box 4: verify it’s 6.2% of Box 3. Box 5: Medicare wages. Box 6: verify 1.45% of Box 5. Box 12a Code D: $2,600 (software will confirm this is already in Box 1 reduction). Box 12b Code DD: $6,800 (software notes as informational). Box 13: check retirement plan box. Box 14: RSU $1,400 (informational entry, already in Box 1).

W-2 entry — Sarah: Box 1: $22,000. Box 2: $1,900. Box 3 and 5 — verify amounts. No Box 12 entries. Box 13 not checked.

1099-B entry: Short-term capital gain of $50. Proceeds $1,450, basis $1,400. Goes on Schedule D. Taxed as ordinary income at their marginal rate — $50 at 22% is about $11 of additional tax.

The return is entered. Before you turn the screen toward Anthony, review the output yourself.

Verify the totals: Does the software show $77,050 in total income? Does the standard deduction show $30,000? Is the taxable income approximately $47,050? Is the federal tax due in the range you estimated?

Verify the withholding credit: Does the software show $8,000 in total federal withholding ($6,100 from Anthony + $1,900 from Sarah)? If not, you either entered something wrong or missed a W-2.

Look for flags: Did the software flag anything? An excess 401(k) contribution? A missing form? A potential Additional Medicare Tax situation (not applicable here but a habit worth building)?

The refund is $2,776. Before you tell Anthony the number, make sure you can explain it. He will ask questions.