Any Payroll Experts Here?

[Christine]

We live in Virginia and work in D.C. We have ALWAYS paid Virginia state taxes.

This year, when I got DH's W-2, I noticed that a large portion of state tax was paid to D.C. and a smaller portion paid to Virginia.

Then I checked his most recent pay stub, and sure enough, a mistake has been made and all his state withholdings are going to D.C.

He has called his payroll office and asked if this can be reversed. They said "no way" and that we would have to file in both D.C. and Virginia.

Now, I do payroll for a very small company and I know that some of this stuff can be reversed. Maybe it would be too hard to reverse for tax year 2004, but for the 3 pay periods in January, it would be very easy because everything is paid quarterly.

However, the payroll person at my DH's office has been very nasty about this to my DH and has basically told him that it is "his problem."

On top of that, I have contacted my company's accountant and explained the situation. He told me that my DH's W-2 needs to be corrected showing "zero income" to D.C. yet show the withholding. When my DH explained this to the payroll person at his office she snapped "That's illegal."

Anyone ever had this experience? It appears I am going to be "screwed" for next year too since she refuses to reverse the last three paychecks.

 

[Hillbeans]

PM sent

 

[Amlee]

sounds to me like she is trying to cover up a mistake she made. If she wants to snap illegal. How about the fact that your husbands tax information was changed with out his notification. That is mega illegal.

It can be changed and should be adjusted asap. If you can't get her to do it then he needs to go over her head.

 

[m&m's mom]

You might want to check out the reciprocity agreement between the 2 states. Every state has an agreement w/ other states on whether the State Income Tax (SIT) is paid to the lived in, worked in, or shared states.
I show the reciprocity agreement between VA and DC is to go to lived in state, which would be VA for your DH.
Sounds like they need to do an amendment to correct.

 

[Christine]

Thanks, I'm trying all these things, but this woman won't budge.

It appears I will be filing for both DC and VA this year but there is more "work" she needs to do on my DH's W-2 to make it easier for DC to realize I didn't live there.

My company's accountant says they could actually slow this down and make me prove that I live in Virginia. Uuughhh.

 

[barkley]

had a friend who got in a major hassle over this type of thing-he lived in california but worked in nevada (california has state taxes, nevada does'nt). found out at tax time his employer was under reporting his earnings and not using the right tables to pay taxes, social security...(it had something to do with the employer pulling a fast one and trying to lower his costs for employer related taxes-he was reporting earnings as commissions so he did'nt have to pay payroll taxes and the like). friend had to enlist the labor board in his area to get the situation corrected, but until he got it corrected he was liable to irs for all taxes due and any late penalities and fines.

i would check with a cpa to find out how to cover yourself and then pursue what oversight agency can enforce correct payroll procedures within the company dh works for.

 

[caitycaity]

is there any way your dh can go to her boss? or her bosses boss?

what a pain!

 

[Christine]

is there any way your dh can go to her boss? or her bosses boss?

what a pain!

Her boss is the owner of the company. He has already put in a call through his supervisor to initiate that action.

She told my DH: Have your accountant call me but don't do it until next week because I'm busy!

Anyway, I don't *have* an accountant--just using the one at my company for advice. He is the one who told me how to handle it but he is certainly not willing to deal with her in an official manner.

I've called the DC taxpayer office and they've told me what form to submit, but in looking at the form, I think I'm going to get in trouble with the fact that there are "reported earnings in D.C." which there shouldn't be. My company's accountant say she needs to correct that block to make it "$0" versus $52,000.