Here's a major budget buster for you ...

[DMickey28]

We just bought our first house on October 16th. We moved from an apartment in Florida to my parents house for 6 months while we house hunted. Now we have a 3 bedroom/2bath house with a living room, dinning room, kitchen, large family room and a 3 season room. Obviously, we don't have much furniture but that's ok. Then there is the normal 'getting in costs' especially when you don't immediately move from one household to another. You know, restocking the kitchen, groceries, basics ....

So Dh also started a new job on October 26th!! Great oppurtunity for him ... not old career wise but also $$ wise. He has a much higher base salary vs. base/draw like his old company. That means less taxes taken out because it's all taxed as his salary vs. half of it being taxed at the higher commission/bonus rate. We also bought our house in NH (no state income tax) and DH works out of the house. This means no commuting costs, less wear and tear on the cars and no 'work costs' like lunch, dunkin donuts in the AM etc.

So the buster .... DH's new company has him down with residence in MA (income tax), single and NO expemtions. This new company is one of the two major software players in the world and it's heirarchy is sooo indepth it takes 5,000 people to get anything accomplished. He has been working on this issue since we recieved his first paycheck 3 weeks ago. So far it has cost us $750 in take home pay due to these errors. They are rushing/prioritizing it (which supposedly they did last week too) to try and get it done before the next pay period but due to Thanksgiving they are running payroll today instead of next Tuesday so they don't think it will be in the system in time. That will cost another $525 for this pay period.

Total lost since he started, 5 weeks worth, will be $1350. That hurts ... getting into the house and Christmas coming up is shot. Luckily, I think the changed will be retroactive so we should get some/most of it back in our tax return but still ... that doesn't help Christmas or the bills right now.

So frustrated ...

[bumbershoot]

I find it VERY strange that a place that is obviously a big, established company doesn't just have a form that he fills out, that is then entered asap, and boom, change done.

Hubby works for amazon and it's a one-step process to change withholdings etc.

OK so they aren't perfect, stuff involving the 401k has a very mysterious process that involved too many people (401k company had us down at 0 while we do the dave ramsey steps but HR had us with a % and we had to get the 401k company on the phone with HR to have it resolved), but something like withholding should be easy!

Hope he can cut through the red tape quickly!

[DMickey28]

There is the form for the W-4 online but he had trouble when he started getting into some of the systems and now he can't make the exemption changes because his manager had to change the locations from MA to NH since that's a job locations situation!

The first time she changed it she put the effective date for 2099. Then in order for that to be changed the HR people needed her approval to change the location to NH for 2009.

THEN since that change was scheduled to go into effect, he couldn't make additional W-4 changes until that one was completed.

THEN when he pushed the HR person because it had been dragging on, the HR person was getting ERRORS in the system and he escalated it to IT. He was supposed to do it as a Priority ONE since it effects DH's pay but he didn't ... we have learned that the HR rep assigned to DH (due to last name and location) is a baffoon of a kid who has no idea what he is doing. DH has since gone to the HR kid's supervisor and she is trying to get it pushed through for today but doubtful it will.

DH has been trying to get into touch with this kid since Thursday of last week and he hasn't responded to calls and emails for this final step. DH finally took it to the supervisor yesterday AM ... thinking we had until Tuesday for the changes to take effect but was informed they are running payroll today because of the holiday.

[BellyBaby]

DH waited about a month or two before his work updated his new salary plus backpay (works for the feds). It has to go to this department, get signed off, then that department, sits there on someone's "to do" pile for a few days....you get the idea.

It sure sucks now, but wait til the windfall you'll get at tax time!

I almost appreciate "forced savings" when my $ takes its time to get to me, it's always a nice lump sum that I wouldn't have saved on my own!

[BrettS]

I know how you feel. The company I work for was aquired by another company a few years ago and for some reason when we switched to the new company's payroll they had me living in NY (which was correct), but working in NJ (which was not), so they were taking both NY and NJ state taxes out of my paychecks. It took them a couple of pay periods to get everything corrected, but when they did they immediately refunded everything they had taken out for NJ, so they should be able to set it up so you get the refund right away (well... at least as soon as they process it). Hopefully that will still be in time for Christmas for you guys

[DMickey28]

Brett - Did you have to do anything to be able to set that up? The HR woman sent us a M-4 Form which is the MA Employee's Witholding exemption certificate. DH said she said to fill that out to help with the w-4 and taxes but I can't figure out what it is. It looks like the same as the w-4 to set up the exemptions for MA.

DH worked in MA for 5 months prior to this so I figured that as long as the changed was effective his start date (which I should think would be a no brainer) we would just get more back through our MA taxes when we file at the end of the year. It'd be awesome if we got it back once they figure this out but I can't see how that would work.

[blanq]

I really don't understand why a large, established corporation cannot resolve this lickity split. I work for the government, and even with all the crabbing about govenment inefficiency, this kind of thing would never happen where I work. I can change my W4 every pay period if I want to, and it would not be a problem.

I am a little confused how this happened to begin with. Your DH would have had to complete a W4 before the company would even pay him. You say: "DH's new company has him down with residence in MA (income tax), single and NO expemtions", like it was somehow the company that did a W4 on his behalf, but it would have been your DH who provided this info.

I am sorry this has happened to you, especially considering it is holiday time. Hopefully this will be straightened out soon. Great news that ultimately, this new job is a promotion and great opportunity for your family.

[DMickey28]

blang - The problem started the week DH started. Here's a rough timeline (of the information I KNOW!)

I was asking him about the W-4 and he couldn't get into the system. It took him about 10 days from his start date to even get into the system.

So at that point they had him down in MA (which is where we were living while he was interviewing and before he started). I am thinking if you DON'T do a W-4 then it automatically goes in as single and no exemptions.


He started on Monday the 26th. He got his first paycheck for that week on Saturday the 31st! That's when we saw the MA, Single, 0 exemptions. He still couldn't get into the system.

His manager went into the system the following week, around the 3rd. to change his work location from MA to Nashua, NH. She made a typo and put effective date 2099. Because that change was pending, once he got access to the system and tried to change the W-4 he got a message saying that a change was pending and no further changes could be made. Since the change was effective 2099 it was pending longer than necessary. When we got his next pay check on the 15th. It had not changed ... he tracked down the HR kid who said that the effective date was 2099 so it had not taken effect yet. UM ... anyone think that was an error???? So then his manager had to be tracked down to approve the change to 2009 which took a few days ... then since that was pending the W-4 changes could STILL not take place ....

His is a remote employee, it's not as though he can walk to the HR office or his managers office. He is at the mercy of people returning emails and phone calls.

At least it will be fixed by his dec. 15th check which will be good. Bonus if we get the back taxes paid to MA but I doubt that will happen until we file the taxes in February!

[BrettS]

Originally Posted by DMickey28

Brett - Did you have to do anything to be able to set that up?

Unfortunately I really didn't have to do much. I pointed out the problem to they payroll people as soon as I noticed it and asked then when it would be fixed and how long it would be until they could get me the money that they accidently witheld, but that was about it on my part. As I recall it did take them a while... I think it went through one or two additional payroll cycles, but once they fixed it the extra money was just on my next paycheck. As I recall, I think it showed up as NJ witholding, but it was an addition instead of a deduction.

[pyrxtc]

Technically, with MA/NH working, They tax you at the rate where the office is and not always where you actually work. Even if my DH worked from home every day of the year, the office is in MA so we get taxed as an out of state employee and have to pay MA income tax. Unless your DH has an office he can go to in NH or works as a contracted out person then he should be paying MA taxes. He has to be listed as wokring out of an office in NH in order to get out of paying MA state taxes.

[DMickey28]

Originally Posted by pyrxtc

Technically, with MA/NH working, They tax you at the rate where the office is and not always where you actually work. Even if my DH worked from home every day of the year, the office is in MA so we get taxed as an out of state employee and have to pay MA income tax. Unless your DH has an office he can go to in NH or works as a contracted out person then he should be paying MA taxes. He has to be listed as wokring out of an office in NH in order to get out of paying MA state taxes.

The company has offices all over the world. When he was interviewing we lived in MA. He is officially working out of the Nashua, NH office. Since he works from home and is considered a work from home employee his boss can put him in any office in the country she wants! She has him in the Nashua office specifically because of the lack of NH income tax. There is NO reason for him to be listed in the MA office at this point. It was originally because his resume and application paperwork had our old MA address but we have been NH residents since a week before he started the job!! Confusing .. the timing was unreal.

Thanks!

[cinmouse]

I live in MA and work in MA but many of my co-workers live in NH...for days they do not come to our MA location, but NH location, at Tax Time they claim those days as days worked out of state.
They also do this for when they travel.
So unless they offically change him to working in NH you will need to track his days in NH since he 1st started working in MA.
I would also call an accountant in NH so that you get the correct info.
Good luck!

[3boymthr]

Contact a tax accountant immediately. I think, but could be wrong, that you will owe taxes in MA for the whole year even though he's only worked here for part of the year unless you fill out some forms for the state of MA DOR and file them immediately not with your company but with the state of MA. This was quite a few years ago, but we had trouble with DH working in RI/living in RI then living in MA and working in RI in the same year. We ended up paying a full year's worth of taxes for MA and RI just because DH didn't file the forms in a timely manner. Such a Pain.