IRS Get Tax Transcript
The Internal Revenue Service’s Get Tax Transcript tool enables taxpayers to receive their tax transcripts online and print out paper copies. If you ever need to prove your financial situation to a bank or any other place such as an insurance company, you can rely on the Get Transcript tool to receive your tax transcripts.
By getting your tax transcripts from the Get Tax Transcript tool, you’ll see basic information on your tax return such as adjusted gross income, tax liability, tax refund, etc. Your tax transcript is not comparable to the copy of your tax return by any means. A copy of a tax return includes everything that went into your tax return such as the tax forms attached. So the copy of a tax return is much more in-depth than a tax transcript.
Contents
A guide to getting tax transcripts online
Go to the Get Transcript tool and enter the following about yourself to verify identity.
- Social Security Number
- Date of Birth
- Filing Status
- Mailing address on the latest tax return
- Mobile phone number
- Email account (you’ll get an email for verification)
- Personal account number from a credit card, home equity loan, mortgage, vehicle loan, or home equity line of credit
Upon providing the information, you’ll verify your identity and see the tax transcripts that are available. Usually, tax transcripts are available as far back as the early 2000s. Given that you probably need last or the year before’s tax transcripts, it’s all good.
What is a tax transcript?
A tax transcript is a piece of document that provides taxpayers with basic information on a previous tax return. Taxpayers who need their tax information to show as proof to a financial institution can get their transcripts to provide the information
I mailed-in my return, can I get tax transcripts online?
Yes! Just because you mailed-in your return doesn’t mean the IRS can’t generate tax transcripts. The Internal Revenue Service already knows your information creating tax transcripts is automatically done. So how you filed your return doesn’t matter. As long as you filed one, you’ll get your tax transcript.
Can I get tax transcripts for free?
There is no fee for getting tax transcripts. Taxpayers only pay for getting a copy of their tax returns. Because the information provided on a tax transcript is much more limited in comparison to a copy of tax return, the IRS doesn’t charge anything for tax transcripts. The best part about getting tax transcripts might be the fact that it’s free but it’s also convenient. You can get your tax transcript online in less than 10 minutes.
How to get a copy of tax return?
There are several ways to get a copy of a tax return. What separates getting the copy of a tax return from a tax transcript is you’ll pay for it. While the IRS provides tax transcripts for free, the agency charges a fee for receiving a copy of the tax return.
If the financial institutions require you to present the copy of your tax return to determine eligibility for – let’s say mortgage – you are most likely to be reimbursed for this expense. That’s assuming you’re eligible for the loan in the first place though. If you’re deemed ineligible for a mortgage or any other type of loan where the lender asked for a copy of your tax return, you won’t get any reimbursements. Although the chances of a lender asking for a copy of a tax return rather than a tax transcript is low, it’s still a thing to know about.
As for where to get a copy of the tax return, you’ll need to file a tax form (Form 4506) and mail it to the Internal Revenue Service. You can detail the tax forms you want with your tax return as well as any other document that went into your tax return. The cost of requesting a full copy of a tax return is $50 per copy which will include everything on your tax return. See how to file and mail Form 4506 to request a copy of tax return.
