Tax Records and Notices
IRS record products and notices are distinct sources of information with different contents and purposes.
IRS records are different products
| Record | What it generally shows |
|---|---|
| Tax return transcript | Most line items from the original Form 1040-series return as filed. |
| Tax account transcript | Account-level information, including later account activity and adjustments. |
| Record of account | Return-transcript and account-transcript information combined. |
| Wage and income transcript | Information returns reported to the IRS, such as Forms W-2 and 1099. |
| Verification of non-filing | A statement that the IRS has no record of a processed Form 1040-series return as of the request date. |
| Copy of filed return | A copy of the filed return rather than an IRS transcript product. |
Notices are different from records
An IRS notice or letter communicates about a specific issue, adjustment, request, balance, or other account matter. It is correspondence, not a substitute for a return transcript, account transcript, or copy of a filed return.
Amended returns, wage records, and transcripts are not interchangeable
An amended return is a later filing. A wage and income transcript summarizes information returns reported to the IRS, such as Forms W-2 and 1099. IRS transcripts can also mask some personal information and are not facsimiles of filed returns. When another organization asks for a tax record, match its request to the IRS product name before ordering.
A lender, school, court, benefits program, or other institution may name the particular IRS record it accepts. The IRS defines its products; the institution using the record defines what it accepts for its own process.