This is how it works for me. In january the process starts but companies don’t have to send you stuff till the end of febuary. In march you can start and look to see if any options are available to do it for free. there are tons but at some point in the process which they often won’t auto get things it says woops this piece of paper means not free. Eventually give up and use spreadsheet. Places have to send you paperwork but electronically they can just send you a note saying get it yourself. After filling in the various forms oh and I mean forms because even an ira contribution (thats the conribution you make to live off of in future since the government just does a token thing) can cause you to need to do a schedule even if you are not itemizing (which you need to do if you have a mortgage). Once you have managed to fill it all out and pray you did not miss anything and if you have unfortunately not killed yourself you can send it. If they owe you money you will get it in a month or few or more and if anything is wrong you will find out with a letter that says you know owe all sorts of fees and interest because you did it wrong.