pay statements

[Like2Plan]

If you work for a small company is it normal not to receive pay statements listing all the deductions from your pay?

[disneysteve]

If you work for a small company is it normal not to receive pay statements listing all the deductions from your pay?

No. You should get a typical statement listing taxes taken out and any other deductions (health insurance, retirement plan contributions, etc.). I would absolutely question this practice.

[MonkeyMama]

No.

In California there are a number of items that re required to be presented on your pay stub - whether you have one employee or 1000 employees.

I am sure any/every state would require your gross wages and deductions to be listed. Not getting that detail is a huge red flag. Is this company trying to pay employee as a "subcontractor"? To evade taxes? {The red flag is the employee seems to think they are an "employee."}. There are ocassional cases where people are paid as employees, but never given any detail/never receive a W-2. I often wonder how it comes to that point - should complain at first paycheck that shows no detail or taxes - creates quite a mess down the road when trying to comply with IRS.

[Like2Plan]

No.

Is this company trying to pay employee as a "subcontractor"? To evade taxes? {The red flag is the employee seems to think they are an "employee."}.

No. Shouldn't be. DH had to fill out a W4. This is a relatively new job for DH (he started the first part of July.)

I used the IRS online calculator to figure out the proper amount of withholding, but I want to confirm the amount that is being withheld is enough.

The other problem is DH was paid once about 6 weeks ago and they seem to have forgotten about him ever since, so he has been trying to get his pay straightened out. I want to verify all the numbers on the pay statement. But, mailed or on-line I thought he should have received a pay statement from the pay from 6 weeks ago.

Once the pay is straightened out, I have to figure out the 401K contributions. I still don't know which days his pay falls on so I don't know how many paydays are left in the year. Since he made some contributions to another plan already, I have to make sure he doesn't exceed the IRS limit for 2012.

[MonkeyMama]

These sound like a lot of red flags. No detail on pay after 6 weeks? Not getting paid for 6 weeks? I hope you get it straightened out soon!!

[Like2Plan]

It does sound kind of dodgy, doesn't it? I think DH is on the brink of getting caught up (we'll see). DH and I were not sure if there were any requirements for pay statements (I wanted to be prepared). Thx for the help.
Reason 439 to have an EF...

[disneysteve]

He hasn't been paid for 6 weeks (well probably 4 weeks since a check was due).
He didn't get a pay statement for the pay he did receive.
You don't know when he is to be paid.
You can't verify if taxes are being properly witheld.
You can't set up 401k contributions.

Lots of problems here. I'd march in there tomorrow AM and demand that this be fixed right away.

[Like2Plan]

UPDATE.
It took until the beginning of November to receive 1 pay statement which had errors on it.
(The cummulative total of pay deposited into his account had been overstated by a couple hundred dollars). DH asked for a correction. Bookkeeper then deleted 1 month's worth of pay from the cummulative total on the corrected copy and so far has not fixed that despite repeated requests. DH has received all the pay statements except for the 1 month that had been deleted.
After looking at the pay statements, DH figured out they were not paying him his full salary and had not set up his 401K. He brought this to the attention of his boss and the bookkeeper. He was supposed to be paid on the bimonthly basis, but they were dividing his pay into a biweekly basis. In other words, they divided his pay into 26 parts but were only paying on the basis of 24 times for the year--this wasn't easy to figure out at first since he never had a regular pay day. This still hasn't been resolved.

In Dec DH decided the situation wasn't ever going to improve and started looking for a different situation. He recently switched companies. DH hasn't been paid in over a month (Christmas month for gosh sakes!) from the previous company. I'm not really as freaked out about it as much as I could be. Having a Christmas fund and a healthy emergency fund has helped a lot so this situation did not interfere with our Christmas plans.

My most immediate concern is getting correct W2 information so we can file our taxes on time.

[disneysteve]

Wow. I'm glad to hear he isn't working there anymore. At this point, I would absolutely contact the state tax office and report the employer. He is breaking all kinds of laws I suspect. I'm sure the state would love to go audit the business and find out if he has been fudging numbers to avoid paying taxes.

[Like2Plan]

Wow. I'm glad to hear he isn't working there anymore.

You are so right!--I am so looking forward to DH getting paid on regular advertised paydays.
It was a real rocky road getting to this point.

At this point, I would absolutely contact the state tax office and report the employer. He is breaking all kinds of laws I suspect. I'm sure the state would love to go audit the business and find out if he has been fudging numbers to avoid paying taxes.

DH sent his boss a summary of what is owed. He just stopped working for him a week ago, so I think we have to wait another week or so before we start filing for missing pay, etc. (I have a bookmark to the form he needs to fill out. )

I think we have to give the company until the end of the month on the W2. I just think it is going to be wrong and then we have to work at getting it ammended (possible after getting IRS involved). I wish DH could get it addressed before they issue the first W2, but his attempts to getting it fixed in over 2 months have not worked. Communication with the bookkeeper has been pretty sparse (She just doesn't respond). She finally sent what she claimed was the missing pay statement about a week ago--turned out to be a dupe and not the missing info. DH turned right around and sent her another request restating the pay period covered and the date of the pay deposit and has not received a response.

[sherylgray]

For me, you should have all the details. Total salary, the company deduction and the taxes deducted from your account. This will always help in creating budget and to keep a track so as when required you can go for loan modification.

[Like2Plan]

UPDATE:


Thanks for the advice regarding the tax angle DisneySteve and Monkeymama--turns out that did the trick!
DH made another request and told his former boss that he hoped that he didn't have to go to IRS to get it straightened out.
This time, the bookkeeper actually did some research and found where she had made 2 deposits, but didn't get some sort of electronic confirmation back, so no pay statements where generated and the cumulative totals were not updated to reflect. (Apparently this almost never happens. )
Long story short, today DH received his W2 and it looks correct. (Hurray! )
I am thrilled because now I can't see any obstacles to filing taxes.

[MonkeyMama]

Honestly, I am surprised you got a W-2, so that is awesome!

I have had a couple of people ask me how to file their taxes after the fact, with never getting pay stubs or W2s, etc. It is good you brought it up early on, and that he has moved on. It is so hard/impossible to do the right thing when employer does not co-operate, and then lord knows what else the employer is doing if they don't care about basic labor laws. Good riddance! & definitely file complaints wherever appropriate.

[Like2Plan]

UPDATE
Or, The Saga continues...

So, I was hoping by now this chapter would have ended... but it is not over, yet.

In Feb of this year the company was bought out by another individual who promised to make good on all the back pay.
We were expecting one lump sum payment, but DH received several payments (starting in Mar until Jun) on the back pay and expenses. Only 2 of the payments came with a pay statement and the pay statements that did come didn't detail the pay period that was covered, so we couldn't tell what was going on. One thing I could tell by the last payment is that they overpaid. DH has asked for the missing pay statements (starting in March) and the company owner has kept promising to catch up on that (when? ).

Last month the company owner realized DH was overpaid and asked for some money back, but still hasn't provided the missing pay statements DH asked for. My sense is they haven't asked for enough back because it looks like they may be mixing gross/net amounts on some of the payments--what a mess.

I have to figure this out to make sure DH gets the right amount (and we don't send too much back ). But, without the pay statements I am a little bit lost. There are two problems. One is the expense reimbursement, because that wouldn't be taxed (and I don't know which check that was). I thought about adding everything up and subtracting the expenses and then run everything through the paycheck city calculator, but since the amounts were actually paid incrementally the withholding calculation would be wrong (plus that wouldn't tell me what the company actually sent to the IRS/FICA). What to do?... My plan is to get the missing pay statements and then DH will write a check to return the overpayment. The next worry will be that the 2013 W2 will overstate the income (not reflecting the $$ returned). Should DH ask for a receipt/corrected pay statement (assuming we get the missing pay statements in the first place)?