New tax guidelines rely on workers to double-check their paychecks

[Peter1469]

New tax guidelines rely on workers to double-check their paychecks

This is going to go badly. Very badly. I suspect a very low compliance rate. Then when the IRS gets around to penalizing people who blew them off- they will kick up a massive backlash.

Millions of Americans will need to use a new Internal Revenue Service online calculator to ensure their new paychecks are accurate, Trump administration officials said Thursday as they issued guidelines for implementing the recently passed tax law.

The guidelines are necessary for businesses to calculate how much to withhold in taxes from employees’ paychecks beginning as soon as next month. The White House said Thursday that businesses should make these adjustments by Feb. 15, part of the administration’s push for millions of workers to see bigger paychecks as quickly as possible.


In rushing the process, the Treasury Department is asking companies to rely on outdated forms to help determine how much to withhold.

oops

A senior IRS official said Thursday that Americans with simple tax situations are likely to get accurate paychecks next month. But many Americans, including those who tend to itemize their tax returns, will need to use the online tool to ensure they are not dramatically overpaying or underpaying their taxes. The online calculator will not be available until sometime next month.

If they find their paychecks are inaccurate, it will be incumbent on the employees to tell their employers to make corrections.

[Common]

That is going to go badly what a terrible idea, they employers should be checking paychecks they are the issuers

[Peter1469]

That is going to go badly what a terrible idea, they employers should be checking paychecks they are the issuers

The employers won't have the correct forms for a few months yet. They are using last years.

[Common]

The employers won't have the correct forms for a few months yet. They are using last years.

WELL PLANNED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, im betting turbo tax and HRBlock dont get it right either

[Peter1469]

WELL PLANNED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, im betting turbo tax and HRBlock dont get it right either

It would be nice if these tax bills were done much further away from tax season.

[Kacper]

I use a payroll company. If they screw it up, it will up to them to fix it. I go with whatever they print on the checks......well except the month MY check was only $36.00. They were made to fix that lickety splitty.

[Peter1469]

I use a payroll company. If they screw it up, it will up to them to fix it. I go with whatever they print on the checks......well except the month MY check was only $36.00. They were made to fix that lickety splitty.

It seems as if the new tax law is shifting the burden to the employee- although you should only have to double check until the IRS releases the updates tax forms to businesses, and payroll companies. I would except that to be 2-3 more months.

Related, anyone who customizes their W-4 will need to adjust that themselves. I currently just have one of the default choices because my tax situation was in flux. Once it stays steady for a couple of years in a row I will go back to customizing the amount of taxes that I want deducted.

[Kacper]

It seems as if the new tax law is shifting the burden to the employee- although you should only have to double check until the IRS releases the updates tax forms to businesses, and payroll companies. I would except that to be 2-3 more months.

Related, anyone who customizes their W-4 will need to adjust that themselves. I currently just have one of the default choices because my tax situation was in flux. Once it stays steady for a couple of years in a row I will go back to customizing the amount of taxes that I want deducted.

Yeah but how is an employee going to really check that if the website to check that isn't even up yet as most regular workers really have no idea how payroll works? The reason I hired a company is because payroll processing is such a PITA with potentially huge penalties if you screw up just a little bit in terms of getting your deposits to the appropriate government accounts not too soon and not too late. To me it is worth the money just to hire a company like paychex to do it all and sort through all the flux. Even when their system and the state system's software went to war with each other, didn't cost me anything even though nothing was getting done in a timely fashion until it was sorted out. If that had been little old me and not paychex, I would have been anally raped by the state tax office.

Anyway, I have no idea how these changes will affect me, but I get a lot of 1099 and K-1 income so payroll deductions are the least of my concerns really. I have them take out a bunch of extra state and federal taxes from my pay check just in case because it is better to pay in too much than underpay in my situation.

[Peter1469]

Yeah but how is an employee going to really check that if the website to check that isn't even up yet as most regular workers really have no idea how payroll works? The reason I hired a company is because payroll processing is such a PITA with potentially huge penalties if you screw up just a little bit in terms of getting your deposits to the appropriate government accounts not too soon and not too late. To me it is worth the money just to hire a company like paychex to do it all and sort through all the flux. Even when their system and the state system's software went to war with each other, didn't cost me anything even though nothing was getting done in a timely fashion until it was sorted out. If that had been little old me and not paychex, I would have been anally raped by the state tax office.

Anyway, I have no idea how these changes will affect me, but I get a lot of 1099 and K-1 income so payroll deductions are the least of my concerns really. I have them take out a bunch of extra state and federal taxes from my pay check just in case because it is better to pay in too much than underpay in my situation.

I agree that aspect of the tax law will backfire. I wouldn't be surprised if the website doesn't even work properly when it is released.

[Captdon]

What do federal employees do that makes this so hard? One person could change all the forms in a couple of days. We have computers these days. Send then to the printers. How the hell did this get to be so hard?