<prompt> Human: I tried to go back to my previous company to get 2016 W-2 income tax form in USA. I registered online, but they are forcing me to pay 18 for this form, and I believe 18 for the 1095-C form, for a total of 36. For some reason I cannot locate the W2 forms and I have to revise my taxes. The delivery method does not matter- view, download, mail a copy: its 18 regardless. When I called the HR dept they explained the process for getting the forms, but never disclosed there would be a cost. I do not want to name the company, but its a huge employer in the USA, and they outsourced this function to Hewitt. This certainly sounds unethical , but I cannot figure out if its legal.  <response>: They have to give you the first one for free and on-time, after that, they can charge. They are providing a service by preserving those documents and reproducing them for you beyond what they are required to do by law. Whether the fee is a fair representation of their costs? No idea. You can likely get this information from the IRS as well, it looks like a Wage and Income Transcript would have the information you need. 