Is this the right W-2?
Drop a W-2 and pick the tax year you asked for. The check reads in seconds whether the file is a W-2, whether it is legible, and whether it is the year you needed. Free, no account.
A W-2 from another year is named as such rather than passed as usable.
PDF, JPEG, PNG or HEIC, up to 10 MB and 5 pages. On a phone, a photo of the W-2 works. 3 checks a day, no account.
Tick the box above to start a check.
Need the W-2 from a client rather than from your own desktop? Open a DokuTrak request with the W-2 already on the list — they upload it through one link, no account.
Send via DokuTrakWhat happens to the file
DokuTrak doesn’t store your file. It travels straight from your browser to the check, is held in memory while it is read, and is dropped when the answer comes back. It is scanned for malware on the way in, and nothing — not the file, not a detail read off it — is written to our storage or our logs. The page is sent to Cloudflare Workers AI to be read; what Cloudflare keeps is covered by its own terms, which our security page links.
Cloudflare Workers AI does the reading. It is the same review that runs inside DokuTrak, and it is the only AI vendor in the chain. Our privacy page names it too.
This is not a forgery detector. It reads what the page says — the document type, the legibility, the details present — never whether the page is genuine. A verdict here is a first pass to save you a look, not a judgement on the document or on the person who sent it.
What the answers mean
- Usable
- It reads as a W-2 and carries what one carries. You still look before you rely on it.
- Wrong type
- It is a document of another kind — a 1099, a pay stub, an IRS transcript. Ask again, naming the W-2.
- Unreadable
- Blurred, cropped or too dark to read. A flat scan or a straight-on daylight photo usually fixes it.
- Incomplete
- A W-2, but the review could not read it closely enough to call it complete. Unlike the other two checks this one names no missing field: what a W-2 must carry depends on the year and the filer, so the check does not claim a list.
- Wrong year
- A W-2, but for another tax year than the one you picked. Only answered when you pick a year — without one there is nothing to compare against.
- Not sure
- The review was not confident enough to say either way. Low confidence is reported as uncertainty rather than rounded to the nearest answer.
Questions
What does this W-2 checker actually check?
That the file really is a Form W-2 rather than a 1099 or a pay stub, that the page is legible, and that it reports the tax year you picked. It reads what the page says — it is not a forgery detector, and it checks no figure against the IRS.
Why does it ask me for the tax year?
Because a check that names no year cannot tell you the year is wrong. A W-2 is right in every other respect and still the wrong one, and without a year to compare against the review has nothing to say about it. Pick 2025 and it can answer that the file is a 2024 W-2 instead of shrugging. Without a year it still reads the form.
Do you keep the W-2 I upload?
No. DokuTrak doesn't store your file: we hold it in memory for the length of the check and write it nowhere — not to our storage, not to our logs, and no detail read off the page either. The page itself is sent to Cloudflare Workers AI, our AI subprocessor, to be read; what Cloudflare retains is governed by its own Workers AI terms rather than by a promise we make on its behalf. Our security page names the subprocessor and links the terms. The same holds for a W-2 as for anything else you drop here.
Which AI reads the file?
Cloudflare Workers AI, the same review DokuTrak runs inside the product. There is no other AI vendor in the chain, which is what lets us name the one that is.
Why did it answer "not sure"?
Because the review was not confident enough to say either way, and a low-confidence read is reported as uncertain rather than dressed up as an answer. AI flags; the reading is still yours.
What file types and sizes work?
PDF, JPEG, PNG and HEIC, up to 10 MB and 5 pages. On a phone, a photo of the W-2 taken straight on in daylight works as well as a scan.
Can I check W-2s a client has to send me?
Yes — that is the product rather than the tool. A DokuTrak request lists the document, the client uploads it through one link with no account, and the same review runs on what arrives. First client request free, no card. Then a 14-day trial, no upfront charge.