By Jack Faire - 12/02/2019 02:00

Today, I sat down to do my taxes. As I was going over my forms, I found my employer only took $1.72 out the entire year for my Federal Income Taxes. I now owe the IRS over $500 that I don't have. FML
I agree, your life sucks 2 364
You deserved it 608

Same thing different taste

Top comments

Do you not get payslips? While it is your employers responsibility to remove taxes, how are you not checking to make sure you are being paid correctly?

kricket5 19

This is 100% your fault. You should be checking your paystubs. Submit a new W-4 to update your tax withholding with payroll/ HR.

Comments

Do you not get payslips? While it is your employers responsibility to remove taxes, how are you not checking to make sure you are being paid correctly?

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.

colderthanyou 15

That happened to us once, the company ended up going bankrupt by tax season too. You should be able to make payments on it instead of paying in one lump sum. Check into it!

kricket5 19

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.

If you wear a MAGA hat when the IRS comes to arrest you, they’ll let you off and leave you alone. Only Dems have to pay taxes now.

kricket5 19

This is 100% your fault. You should be checking your paystubs. Submit a new W-4 to update your tax withholding with payroll/ HR.

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

kricket5 19

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.

But, seriously, you can set up an installment plan to pay off your tax liability over time. Once a month, they come over an remove a non-essential organ or amputate a digit. (No, that part is a joke. I can’t help it!)

PenguinPal3017 19

$500 for the entire year!? That's close to what I pay in taxes every two weeks.

PenguinPal3017 19

Yeah. I Checked, my federal taxes are more than $500 every two weeks. I worked a lot of overtime last pay period and they were $1200. How do you pay $500 a year?!

TomeDr 24

Sorry but YDI for not paying attention to your pay stubs.

Burle 17

The real fml is you make so little you only owe 500 in taxes for a full year

Mayaaaaaaaaa 12

That’s why it’s important to check your paystubs, just to be on the safe side. Good luck, OP. I’m sure they can schedule payment arrangements for you.

breemonster 13

I tried to update my withholdings after I got a second full time job. My employer kept blaming the payroll service for it never updating. Took almost the entire year. Now I owe 1,500 in taxes. I feel your pain OP. It's like a cruel joke.

someuser 1

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.

breemonster 13

Thankfully I am in a great finacial situation where it's more of a pain then a worry. 😁