New employee questions

[MJ]

My wife recently started a job. Her employer seems unorthodox.
Her employer didn't give her a W4 form to fill out.
This week, she got her 1st paycheck without a pay stub. He said he took out taxes but she doesn't know how he determined her deductions or what was the deduction breakdown or how many hours she was paid so here are the questions.
Does the government require an employer to provide W4 form to fill out or
requires an employer to provide a proper pay stub showing; gross amount earned, number of hours, federal, state, social security, and medicare deductions. Thanks

 

[jazz4cash]

Sounds super sketchy. If you google "paystub requirements" you get a long list of requirements for each state.....these are mostly from companies selling payroll software.

As far as W4 form, the Feds have Tax Topic 753....here's an excerpt.....

"When you hire an employee, you must have the employee complete a Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Certificate. Form W-4 tells you, as the employer, the employee's filing status, ...."

 

[Bamaman]

Many employers consider employees to be self employed--contract workers. And they can sometimes intend to give them a 1099B at year end. This is often seen especially in the construction industry, for example.

Working for any company that doesn't require a W-4 is not worth working for. That includes withdrawals for social security and taxes as you see fit.

 

[Calico]

My wife recently started a job. Her employer seems unorthodox.
Her employer didn't give her a W4 form to fill out.
This week, she got her 1st paycheck without a pay stub. He said he took out taxes but she doesn't know how he determined her deductions or what was the deduction breakdown or how many hours she was paid so here are the questions.
Does the government require an employer to provide W4 form to fill out or
requires an employer to provide a proper pay stub showing; gross amount earned, number of hours, federal, state, social security, and medicare deductions. Thanks

Thirty-some years ago I worked for an attorney (sole practitioner) in another state. I worked for her for two years, then relocated for family reasons.

She did have me fill out the proper paperwork for tax withholding (W4) and she withheld my portion of social security and all other taxes from my paychecks, and I filed my own taxes both years.

Fast forward many years, and when I reviewed my social security statements online, I discovered that she had never reported my wages, or paid the federal taxes, or paid a penny of social security tax for me.

I googled her recently out of curiosity, and lo and behold, she was sued some years back by dozens of clients for taking their money and never performing the work. In the past eight years she apparently spent time in jail; she was first suspended and then disbarred; she continued to see new clients after her suspension and before being disbarred. Her mug shot was something to see. A real blast from the past.

My advice to your wife: she should ask for detailed paystubs to protect herself, to prove that taxes (and what amounts) were withheld from her.

I agree with the poster above - it all sounds very sketchy.

 

[MJ]

Thanks for all the helpful replies.
According jazz4cash's helpful link, we live in a state that does not have any pay stub laws so does that mean the employer does not have to provide a breakdown of the deductions or how many hours one has worked per paycheck? That makes no sense.

 

[Telly]

My wife recently started a job. Her employer seems unorthodox.
Her employer didn't give her a W4 form to fill out.
This week, she got her 1st paycheck without a pay stub. He said he took out taxes but she doesn't know how he determined her deductions or what was the deduction breakdown or how many hours she was paid...

If your wife had "Work for a crook" on her bucket list, she should have her pen ready to mark that one as accomplished, and move on.

Federal Tax, State Tax (if applicable), Social Security tax & credit for paying in, Medicare tax and credit for paying in, health insurance and any 401k, stiffed on actual number of hours worked, a whole lotta fraud possible there. More red flags than May Day in Moscow.

 

[Calico]

If your wife had "Work for a crook" on her bucket list, she should have her pen ready to mark that one as accomplished, and move on.

Federal Tax, State Tax (if applicable), Social Security tax & credit for paying in, Medicare tax and credit for paying in, health insurance and any 401k, stiffed on actual number of hours worked, a whole lotta fraud possible there. More red flags than May Day in Moscow.

+100

 

[jazz4cash]

Thanks for all the helpful replies.
According jazz4cash's helpful link, we live in a state that does not have any pay stub laws so does that mean the employer does not have to provide a breakdown of the deductions or how many hours one has worked per paycheck? That makes no sense.

Uh…i didn’t post a link but according to IRS, a W4 form is required. What state do you reside in? Did you try searching for requirements in your specific state on a state govt or commercial website?

 

[jazz4cash]

Its truly amazing that 9 states have no requirement for employers to provide paystubs according to one site i checked. There’s no way a reputable business could operate without maintaining these records and unfathomable that they’d be withheld from employees.

 

[mrfeh]

+100

I'm hoping she quits and reports this company to the IRS.

Tax cheats piss me off.

 

[Badger]

I'm hoping she quits and reports this company to the IRS.

Tax cheats piss me off.

+1


Cheers!

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Agreed, at best the employer has no idea what they're doing, and will withhold incorrectly and probably misclassify your wife as a 1099 contractor when she should be a W-2 employee. At worst (and IMO most likely) they're scamming your wife along the lines of Calico's previous employer. Run, don't walk.

 

[pjm-7]

As a former payroll tax auditor there are way too many red flags marching by. The federal and most state laws are very clear on payroll reporting. Your wife needs to be done with this employer immediately.

 

[MJ]

Uh…i didn’t post a link but according to IRS, a W4 form is required. What state do you reside in? Did you try searching for requirements in your specific state on a state govt or commercial website?

Sorry, I meant, you gave me the clue to search for "paystub requirement" and our state is one of the 9 states that do not have any requirement.

 

[OldShooter]

Bail.

 

[racy]

Thirty-some years ago I worked for an attorney....

I too worked as a part-time bookkeeper for an attorney. He pushed me to become an independent contractor, which means I would have been responsible for paying for my own benefits and taxes. I consulted with my accountant; he told me not to do it. That it was beneficial to the attorney, not me.

This was the same attorney who cancelled the employee 401k plan when one of his paralegals pointed out the high fees of the plan.

Some attorneys are in it for themselves in my experience...

 

[cathy63]

Thanks for all the helpful replies.
According jazz4cash's helpful link, we live in a state that does not have any pay stub laws so does that mean the employer does not have to provide a breakdown of the deductions or how many hours one has worked per paycheck? That makes no sense.

It's not clear from your post whether your wife has asked her employer for any of this info. If she hasn't had a conversation about it, that should be the first step. If the employer is using software to do payroll, then there's probably a check stub he can print out and it may just be that nobody has ever asked for it before. Is this a two-person shop and your wife is his first non-family employee, or something like that? He may be unaware of what's customary in this situation and willing to change if she just asks.

Otherwise, the employer has to do whatever your state law says, so you should look at your state's department of labor website to find out what his obligations are. The Feds require the employer to issue a W-2 at the end of the year but they don't require any interim reporting.

Your wife can download a W-4 from the IRS website, fill it out, and provide it to her employer at any time. Once she turns in a new W-4, the employer has to implement the changes by the first pay period that ends more than 30 days after she submits the form.

 

[disneysteve]

This week, she got her 1st paycheck without a pay stub. He said he took out taxes but she doesn't know how he determined her deductions or what was the deduction breakdown or how many hours she was paid

Even if all of this is legal, which I doubt, it's still entirely unacceptable. How can she possibly know if she is being properly paid? How can she possibly know if she is being taxed correctly?


I work for a large employer that does everything as they should. I review my pay stub every time and I find errors from time to time. Sometimes my hours didn't get entered correctly (my manager isn't terrific). Sometimes my PTO didn't get logged properly. Sometimes an extra weekend shift got paid at the lower weekday rate. Without the stub, I'd have no way to know.


I'd get out of there ASAP.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

some [-]attorneys[/-] people are in it for themselves in my experience...

fify.

 

[OldShooter]

To amplify slightly on my post #16, nothing good is going to happen here. Whatever money was deducted from @MJ's wife almost certainly did not go to the IRS and it is likely gone forever. Her obligation to pay those taxes, however, lives on. Again almost certainly her tax hole deepens with every paycheck. This is not just a reporting issue.

The First Law of Holes applies: When you're in a hole, stop digging.

 

[Montecfo]

Thirty-some years ago I worked for an attorney (sole practitioner) in another state. I worked for her for two years, then relocated for family reasons.

She did have me fill out the proper paperwork for tax withholding (W4) and she withheld my portion of social security and all other taxes from my paychecks, and I filed my own taxes both years.

Fast forward many years, and when I reviewed my social security statements online, I discovered that she had never reported my wages, or paid the federal taxes, or paid a penny of social security tax for me.

I googled her recently out of curiosity, and lo and behold, she was sued some years back by dozens of clients for taking their money and never performing the work. In the past eight years she apparently spent time in jail; she was first suspended and then disbarred; she continued to see new clients after her suspension and before being disbarred. Her mug shot was something to see. A real blast from the past.

My advice to your wife: she should ask for detailed paystubs to protect herself, to prove that taxes (and what amounts) were withheld from her.

I agree with the poster above - it all sounds very sketchy.

If she never deposited taxes this would be apparent when you filed your tax return I would think.

But failing to deposit withheld taxes is a serious crime.

 

[Aerides]

If your wife goes back to work tomorrow, she might ask one of her new co-workers if they received a W-2 recently...or in the past, and how that went. My guess is she'll get an enlightening answer.

But not filling out the W-4 yet alone is enough to be concerned.

 

[Walt34]

I agree with the others, this sounds very sketchy. Even my first jobs in high school pumping gas at gas stations, where I was paid in cash, everyone also received a withholding statement on the envelope said cash was in.

That's when I first found out about payroll withholding, a major disappointment at the time. When I complained to my parents they just laughed at me and explained some working "facts of life".

 

[Brat]

I agree - this employer is sketchy. Your wife should continue her job search while she checks with other employees about the employer's pay practices.

 

[MJ]

If your wife goes back to work tomorrow, she might ask one of her new co-workers if they received a W-2 recently...or in the past, and how that went. My guess is she'll get an enlightening answer.

But not filling out the W-4 yet alone is enough to be concerned.

That's a good idea. She knows another person working over 1 year and I suggested that she asks if he is an employee, did he recently get his W2 and whether he was originally given a W4.