Some employers don't give those out regularly; I had to request mine at one point. There is an online place to view them, but if I'm not mistaken the employer is still the one with initial access until an employee asks.

No sure why the company going bankrupt is relevant to this discussion. And while payments are an option, please keep in mind that you will accrue interest and late payment penalties for any balance not paid by April 15th.

Just stop.

In some states, providing a paystub isn’t mandatory. In fact, 9 states don’t require them to be made available. They leave it up to the employer to decide, and from what I can find, the employees can’t ask for them (though I’m sure I’m just not looking in the right place, but still).

That doesn't sound legal... not being mandatory I can let slide, but not having to provide one even if requested seems like it would be open to abuse as there would be zero way to confirm what you have been paid is actually correct. Also, don't you need payslips to provide proof of income for loans and things like that? How would people do this without being able to get payslips in some capacity.

It does sound super illegal, but if it weren’t a thing, then there wouldn’t be states that need to specify that they offer them upon request (such as where I live). https://primepay.com/blog/state-state-pay-stub-requirements

The paystubs might not be mandatory by state, but federal law requires every employer to keep accurate pay records and to make them available to the employee upon request. The reason you can’t find specific laws for some states is because they default to federal requirements. I process multi-state payroll.

That sounds like a shitty situation!

You are allowed (and encouraged, especially in a case like this) to make estimated payments to the IRS. The "standard" schedule is once per quarter, but I'm sure the IRS would happily take any payment you wish to send them at any time.