So my wife's employer fudged up her W-4

[Rizon]

My wife filed with her employer as Married Filing under Single Rate on the W-4 she submitted last year. She even double checked with them and they said there was no way they could screw it up.

So of course they put her down as Married, which means she (we) underpaid state and federal for last year (she needed to be at MfS so we wouldn't have to owe).

My wife doesn't have any money to pay these taxes (we have seperate bank accounts because she's terrible with money and refuses help) and I'm going to have to end up paying them for her ... again.

I probably should have kept an eye on her paychecks, so I'm guilty of assuming people have an IQ above 30.

Is there anywhere we can complain? Her employe is a major corporation, but it's retail so it's full of a bunch of morons who don't understand this stuff. She drove down there now to scream at her boss for messing up, but her boss isn't going to understand.

[stevew]

Are you super sure they messed it up? Only reason i say that is that on the lower end of the spectrum where i reside, if I claim even one on my w4, i get absolutely no taxes taken from my check whatsoever. So i had to go and re- file zero just to make sure that I'm not gonna end up owing anything.

[Rizon]

Yup, I took her last paycheck and compared it to the 2006 Federal Withholding charts. They deducted at the Married rate and not the Single (which would have been almost twice as much).

My wife just got back from her work and it appears they snowed her over and are claiming there is no option to withhold her at Single.

[Draft Dodger]

this is terrible. you should have her call me so I can apologize.

[Mustang]

Unfortunately.. (and you aren't going to like this), the only person you can really bitch at is your wife. If you changed the withholdings and you had any thoughts it could have been wrong, your wife should have just done the calculations to see if it was remotely close to what she thought. I always do a double check at mid year and do a rough tax return estimate just to see where I'm standing. If at mid year your off, I'd suggest having them withhold extra $ for federal tax so your aren't screwed next year. (I think that can be done)

Of course they are b.s.ing your wife. I'm married and I'm withheld at the Single/0 rate.. I'm pretty sure you can put anything down you want but, regardless, the IRS is going to want their cut at the end of the year even if you put down Married/5...

[Butter]

Yeah, you can definitely put down whatever you want on the W-4. I only claim 1 exemption on there, even though I am due 4, and always end up with a refund at year's end. I would rather them take out less and end up about even, but I'm not willing to risk owing at the end of the year, because that's usually money I don't have anyway.

[Farrah Whitworth-Rahn]

Originally Posted by Rizon

My wife just got back from her work and it appears they snowed her over and are claiming there is no option to withhold her at Single.

That's incorrect. There is an option on the W-4 to select "Married but withhold at singe rate". Check out box #3 at this link.

Now will you kindly go back to your wife's employer and kick their ass for giving out wrong information? It would make me feel so much better. Thanks.

[Farrah Whitworth-Rahn]

And just for kicks - here's a fun little site that can help you estimate paychecks, annual withholding etc. based on different criteria. It's quite handy. I use it when I'm working on projections: www.paycheckcity.com

[Bonegavel]

Isn't it the employee's responsibility to fill out the W-4? And it can be done every year BY THE EMPLOYEE if they desire? On your hire date you fill out a W-4.

Reason I'm throwing this out there is that our HR dept. sends me the W-4 every year to post on our Intranet for people to print and fill out if they want.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by Bonegavel

Isn't it the employee's responsibility to fill out the W-4? And it can be done every year BY THE EMPLOYEE if they desire? On your hire date you fill out a W-4.

Reason I'm throwing this out there is that our HR dept. sends me the W-4 every year to post on our Intranet for people to print and fill out if they want.

you fill out the paperwork, but the HR department goes in and enters the info into their paycheck system to actually pull the money out...

[Bonegavel]

Originally Posted by wade moore

you fill out the paperwork, but the HR department goes in and enters the info into their paycheck system to actually pull the money out...

Well, right, but then she can have them pull out her paperwork and show that she selected the appropriate option.

Unfortunately, the gov'ment doesn't give a shit whether or not it was the employer or the employee that screwed up and they will want their money.

As for what to do about this (pay for her or whatnot)— I think this falls into the "bad times" part of the marriage vows.

**dons pre-marriage counselor hat**

Do not marry somebody with financial problems. The chances of them "fixing" this problem as they get older are very low. Separate bank accounts or not, they will ruin your credit.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Farrah Whitworth-Rahn

And just for kicks - here's a fun little site that can help you estimate paychecks, annual withholding etc. based on different criteria. It's quite handy. I use it when I'm working on projections: www.paycheckcity.com

is it really fun, or are you just being a nerd?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

is it really fun, or are you just being a nerd?

Are the two things really mutually exclusive?
(says the man visiting the computer game msg board)

[Farrah Whitworth-Rahn]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

is it really fun, or are you just being a nerd?

Oh I'm a financial nerd. No doubt about that.

[Arctus]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

is it really fun, or are you just being a nerd?

It rests somewhere between fish fighting and mouse burning on the fun scale.

[Craptacular]

I've still got "single" on my W-4 and paychecks even though I've been married since 2002. The funny thing is, even though we got a big refund last year and will get another this year, I ran through the little worksheet to estimate how many deductions to claim ... it not only said I shouldn't ADD any more than the one I'm currently claiming (for myself), but said I should claim zero and have extra money taken out.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

is it really fun, or are you just being a nerd?

Can't it be both?

I wonder when I'll get my W-4. I got my W-2 today for my current job.
I believe I took 2 deductions (self and single or something like that, line items A and B). I noticed that my W-2 doesn't say anything useful about what deductions I took.

Oddly enough, that website that Farrah recommended also recommends that I take 2 deductions (the same two I think I took), so I'm happy.

/tk

[ZXTT]

Originally Posted by Craptacular

I've still got "single" on my W-4 and paychecks even though I've been married since 2002. The funny thing is, even though we got a big refund last year and will get another this year, I ran through the little worksheet to estimate how many deductions to claim ... it not only said I shouldn't ADD any more than the one I'm currently claiming (for myself), but said I should claim zero and have extra money taken out.

You basically have to figure out how much tax you expect to owe and then manipulate the numbers to withhold what you want. Perhaps the W-4 comes out right in some simple case(s).

[Loren]

at the time of hire and again mid yr you should fill out new w-4's in case there are any changes, and the employer..HR dept should get that out to everyone, if anything because it makes this time of the yr easier on ourselves..same goes for W-9's.. im dealing with a stupid woman who never kept W-9's the proper way soo im about to kill someone here soon, since deadline is what 4 days away and that means ill probably work through the weekend not to mention she's like your wife's employer(though they're a large company)in that they screwed up except she dont know how to do simple math apparently so that even though she WROTE the proper deductions on the check in the actual pay amount it wasnt deducted properly..soo those employees are gonna get screwed yet somehow after i quit im sure itll be blamed on me
and why if ya'll know your wife has problems dont you just have extra witholding held as a safety net?

[Craptacular]

Originally Posted by ZXTT

You basically have to figure out how much tax you expect to owe and then manipulate the numbers to withhold what you want. Perhaps the W-4 comes out right in some simple case(s).

I know ... assuming we don't also change my wife's, I should probably be claiming something like 4, 5, or 6 to get close to even, so having the worksheet tell me to claim zero and withhold an extra amount is a little ridiculous. I'll probably bump it up to 3 this year and see how it goes ... I'd still rather get a refund than pay, but not as big a refund as we're getting now. Oh well, consider it forced savings.




Until I blow it on a pool table.