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12 Answers

employer messed up on my taxes?

Asked by: megan 922 views YA Discussion

I recently did some number crunching on my pay-stub to double check that enough has been getting taken out for federal and state. I’ve always claimed single/single and my pay-stubs reflect this. I talked to the accountant about the difference in what is taken out vs. what it should be. She showed me in her system as being married/married. Every single thing I’ve ever been provided by my company has stated single/single. Is there any way I can hold them accountable or am I in for a rough tax season?
one thing I guess I should of added is I found out that they’re using two accounting systems. I dont know why they do this. The one that they print our checks from had me as single/single while the “real” one had me as married/married.

How others found here:

  • what happens if a company messes up your w2
  • company messed up my salary
  • my employer messed up my w4 this year

12 Answers



  1. Ryan M on Sep 14, 2011 Reply

    You can’t hold them accountable since YOU spent the money that was not taken out of your paycheck. YOU are 100% completely responsible for YOUR tax bill.

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  2. Rick B on Sep 14, 2011 Reply

    It is only September. Have them fix the withholding and take additional money out for the restof the year.

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  3. the kid on Sep 14, 2011 Reply

    No, you can’t hold them accountable. You CAN fill out a new W4 and have a little extra withheld to be safe. It probably won’t be too much of a problem.

    Go to IRS.gov and use the withholding calculator.

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  4. Wayne Z on Sep 14, 2011 Reply

    Claim “Single – 0″ for the rest of the year.

    You, and only you, are ultimately responsible for what gets taken out of your paycheck. As such, you are responsible for any errors even if it was your employer’s mistake.

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  5. Judy on Sep 14, 2011 Reply

    No you can’t hold them accountable. You got more money than you should have, and now will have to pay it back. This will result in either a smaller refund, or if your refund isn’t enough to cover it, owing when you file. How much have you made so far this year, and now much has been withheld for federal income tax? State income tax? And what state?

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  6. acmeraven on Sep 14, 2011 Reply

    This type thing is why I mutter under my breath every day about being surrounded by idiots and now they have computers; you are just a victim of this being the way it is. Turn in a new W-4 showing single and zero; make a copy of it. Also, you may be able to actually find a thinking human being and have some additional money withheld out of your paychecks from now to the end of the year to compensate for the underwithholding. Using your 2010 return as a template compute about what your tax bite is for 2011 and see how short you are going to be so you know what you are looking at. As a last resort you can move to Montana where we have an assisted suicide law on the books now? Good luck.

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  7. chatsplas on Sep 14, 2011 Reply

    You are responsible, not your employer
    You got the money and you have it or spent it
    That’s why you get paystubs, to be able to check it out
    You fix this, by changing your w-4 NOW, filing a new one
    Run some tax calculators at http://www.irs.gov or paycheckcity and figure out how much you need withheld, how much will be withheld. . . .and have some extra withholding taken to get your account up enough
    This is covered on your w-4 also
    Then check it out with every paycheck

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  8. mrreliable3599 on Sep 15, 2011 Reply

    Accountable for what?

    Something’s not right. You say “…single and my pay-stubs reflect this…” then “…in her system as being married/married…”

    If your paystubs reflected single, you’d have the correct amount withheld.

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  9. StephenWeinstein on Sep 15, 2011 Reply

    The most they can do for you is to take out the more money during the remaining months of the year, so that the correct total amount is taken during the year. To achieve this, you do not need to “hold them accountable”. The only thing you have to do is to give the employer a new W-2 saying how much extra you want them to take out of your paychecks during the remaining (future) pay periods. There is absolutely no reason to tell them that you think that there was a mistake.

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  10. tro on Sep 15, 2011 Reply

    you need to see how you reported it on your W-4
    if they have ignored this which is a legal document, perhaps you can sue them

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  11. Bobbie on Sep 15, 2011 Reply

    Just say I believe that I messed up with the withholding of the amount of income tax that should have been withheld from my GROSS wages earnings during the tax year.
    History is things that have already hap pended and this is where you are at this time in your life. So now you need to settle down and clam done and determine how you want to try and make this matter come out best for you in your situation that your are now in at this time in your life.
    Just do some estimated tax calculations and see what and how much your federal and state income liability $ $ amounts may be at the end of the tax year 2011 December 31 and if it is necessary try and change your W-4 form to make sure that you do have enough withheld from now until the last pay period of the 2011 year to cover your income tax liability $ $ amounts so that you would at least come out even or close to even at that time when you don fill out and fill the 2011 income tax return during the 2012 tax filing season for this purpose.

    Go to the http://www.irs.gov website and use the search box for 1040ES and then go to page 6 also has the 2011 Tax Rate Schedules and page 7 has the estimated tax worksheet available for your use also.

    http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040es.pdf

    Copy and paste the below enclosed website address into your browser bar and choose the estimated tax calculator for the 2011 tax year.

    http://www.dinkytown.net/java/Tax1040.html

    Enter your filing status, income, deductions and credits and we will estimate your total taxes for 2011. Based on your projected withholdings for the year, we can also estimate your tax refund or amount you may owe the IRS next April 2012. In 2011, Federal income tax rates were scheduled to increase to pre-2001 levels, but the “Tax Hike Prevention Act of 2010″ left the existing tax brackets in place through 2012. Please note that this calculator uses the preliminary 2011 tax tables.
    I would hope that you do find the above enclosed information useful for your situation and good luck to you with this matter. 09/13/2011

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  12. Calvin C on Sep 15, 2011 Reply

    I am confused you state “I’ve always claimed single/single and my pay-stubs reflect this” if your stub states this are they withholding the correct amount? If it is that they transcribe the information from the system calculating based on married/married then they really are dumb and are at fault. Your employer must withhold at the rate you put onto your W4. There have been arguments back and forth on who has to pay when there is an error. As far as the taxing authorities are concerned you owe the taxes no matter who is at fault. However I have known employees who have legally forced the employer to pay the tax bill if and only if the employee owed taxes when they files and only if the tax liability was due to wages. As far I know they all also were fired with no recourse. If you are single have one job but happen to itemize at least 10,000 worth of expenses likely this error will not be costly anyways. Worse case is you owe a couple of thousand.

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