W-2 forms and tax mess...thanks to an idiot ex-boss

The BBQ Pit
1

Earlier this year, when I was still in college I worked at a small store in the mall. I had problems with the employer - an anal retentive little gnome of a man.

The fundamental trouble was this. Last January, his manager pretty much hired me on the spot. He needed someone, and basically I walked in the store and the manager hired me on the spot. He was really impressed with my references, experience, and I worked very well with him. The owner was never there then, he owned several stores and did not supervise each one personally. He went out of town that month, and had not left any checks for me behind. So he told his manager over the phone to pay me cash out of the register. I asked that the proper amount be withheld for federal income tax purposes.

He spent over a month out of town, and during that time, I continued to be paid in cash, with the right amount witheld.
Anyway he came back and during the next few months he paid me with his personal checks. Also when he came back he began to spend all of his time at the store, complaining about how poorly done everything was (I was not the only employee) and being generally hostile.

Then one day in April he told me I needed to pay him back the cash I was paid earlier in the year, so he could pay me “properly” (with checks). I didn’t have a thousand or so dollars in cash to pay him back, and another employee confided that the owner is sort of dodgy about paying people and so on. I was practically a college graduate at that point, so after one of his tirades about how I failed to properly install a flourescent light bulb or something, and then how I should dress better,once the shift was over (it was right after I got my last check) I just handed him the key and told him find someone else because I am through with his crap.

Now I am a graduate with a decent job, but I still need my old W-2 form from him. I sent a plain S.A.S.E. marked “W-2” to his office last month, but I am afraid I won’t get a thing by January 31st. What can I do…and is the owner simply careless (his parents were wealthy and more or less gave him three stores to own) or being a cheat. And at any point did I do anything wrong?

Oh yeah, and since this is the pit…the owner was a lying turd. Just to show I wasn’t alone in despising this bastard. Once I was at school and a (hot) girl named Cynthia told me she sees me at work all the time, when I asked her why she never visited me, her reply is “I know the owner…he’s an asshole and I’d rather avoid him”.

FUCK YOU FOR NOT DOING MY TAXES RIGHT, FOR MAKING ME CLIMB A NINE FOOT FUCKING LADDER TO CHANGE YOUR OFFICE LIGHT FIXTURES, AND FOR SUDDENLY TELLING ME NOT TO WEAR ATHLETIC SHOES AFTER 4 FUCKING MONTHS ON THE JOB. AND MOST OF ALL FUCK YOU FOR MAKING CYNTHIA NOT COMFORTABLE WITH CHATTING ME UP AT THE MALL. I COULD HAVE ASKED HER TO THE FOOD COURT AND GAZED INTO HER HAZEL EYES OVER A FUCKING YOGHURT PARFAIT YOU ASSHOLE!!!

2

Did I make it clear I was pretty much hired on the spot…hehehehe. I am repetitive I admit.

3

Sounds like a complaint to the IRS may be in order. Problem is that you need to give him till Jan 31?? to comply.

I didn’t receive a W-2 once but used my last paycheck with an explanation to the IRS about what I was doing.

If you don’t have a last paycheck, do your taxes with the information you have and explain well. If you don’t have any information (like how much was withheld) then your SOL on that front.

However, if he doesn’t send, contact the IRS. It is illegal, I believe, to not send out W-2’s and it is very illegal for the business to pay cash and keep the withholding money for himself.

On dealing with the IRS…be patient. It will take them a long time to answer. Get a speaker phone, relax and wait. Once you get through, they have always been very helpful to me.

4

He paid me with personal checks, not with business checks that have pay stubs.

5

You can contact the IRS and they will sort it out for you.

6

Uh-oh. I’d be willing to give pretty good odds here that the “withheld” amounts never got as far as the IRS. I second the recommendation to contact the IRS about the whole matter.

7

And Labor Relations.

8

Call the IRS.

As long as you make it clear that you’re trying to cooperate, they will be MUCH more interested in your jerkweed boss than in prosecuting you.

In fact, you may wish to contact your jerkweed boss and make it clear that unless HE cooperates, you’ll do just that…

9

You’d be better off to be the first one to contact the IRS.

10

Yeah, the IRS frowns on that sort of thing. They’ve been know to be draconian when someone tries to rip them off.

11

I hear they are lobbying to have tax cheaters classed as enemy combatants.

Seriously, call the IRS and find out what has and has not been filed on your behalf - probably nothing yet. Call now, because in a month you won’t be able to get through on their phones and you’ll want a name and direct number.

Better yet, if you are close to an IRS branch office, stop in.

12

I was in a situation very much like yours at one time. I was working as a salesperson in a computer store. I was paid on commission, with weekly “draws” given to me between commissions. I also had a base that if I didn’t sell enough, I’d still be paid something like minimum wage for my time.

My checks didn’t have stubs on them - they were just checks in a round amount, paid to me every week. I repeatedly asked if taxes were being taken out, and was told that yes, they were. I asked for stubs as proof, but they never gave them to me. After working there for about 6 months, I decided it sucked, and quit.

Sure enough, at the end of the year, they sent me a 1099, not a W-2. This was exactly was I had been scared of - I hadn’t put any money aside to pay taxes. I was only 21 at the time, and didn’t have several hundred dollars to spare. I decided to fight.

Luckily, the accountant at my new job was more than happy to help me in my fight. She told me that the IRS makes it very hard for companies to claim that employees are actually contractors, and thus not subject to being taxed by the company. I just had to provide the IRS with some proof of my working conditions. I sent them a letter, with the following information:

  • I had answered a newspaper advertisement looking for employees to get the job. I enclosed a copy of the original ad.
  • I had a desk and a phone at the company site
  • I was told repeatedly that I was an employee, and they assured me they were taking taxes out of my check
  • I had a business card paid for and printed with the company name, identifying me as a company employee. I enclosed a copy.
  • I was directed in my work by my boss. I didn’t decide how to work - I was told what my daily and weekly duties were

There may have been a few more things, these are just the ones I remember. This was in 1991, so it’s been a while.

The IRS got the letter, took one look at it, and went after the store I worked at to get the back taxes. I haven’t heard from them since. I did, IIRC, have to pay my half of the Social Security Tax. It wasn’t that much, a hundred dollars or so. But I didn’t have to pay the state and federal taxes that were supposedly taken out of my check.

Good luck!