An IRS tax transcript is a downloadable record that shows return information, wage reporting, payment history, refund activity, and internal IRS codes tied to collections or audits.

To create the substitute for return, the IRS uses third-party information like the W-2s, 1099s and other documents that are reported to them. However, they only use the income information.

For most people, that will be around $3,170, according to recent statistics from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) — up from $3,050 in 2024. That's not the only change taxpayers will see soon ...