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So fun situation. I worked for a smaller coffee company here in Seattle. It wasn't anything amazing, but I was making between $1600-$1900 a month off maybe 25-27 hours worth of work. Considering my living situation, it gave me a great chance to start saving up for college, which I what I appreciated most about it. Of that, maybe $900-$1000 was wages, and $600-$800 was tips. In November of last year, I was let go. It wasn't anything I did, instead being a joint firing with another employee off something they did. It sucked, but gave me enough reason to apply for unemployment/get unemployment. Problem is, my old boss lied on his forms, and claimed I was only making $1000 a month total through wages/tips combined. I wanted to maintain a good relationship with him as a reference, and couldn't really wait another month for unemployment to start coming in, so I decided to not challenge it. At the time, I assumed tips just weren't covered by unemployment income, so it wouldn't be worth it to add another week by asking. Unfortunately, this led to me making ~$500 a month in unemployment, which wasn't even enough to cover my rent. To cover the deficit, I dipped into my savings/credit card while I looked for new work. Thanks to being in a slightly out of the way neighborhood/not really having the skills needed to find another job quickly in my line of work, it took me a bit to find a job, which ate into my savings/credit more then I'd have liked. But eventually I found a lovely job in the same field. From there I learned you are legally required to write out just how much you make in tips per month, so the IRS can tax you properly. When I went back and checked all my old checks from the previous company, I found that my old boss had been signing off tip slips for me every month, claiming I only made $100 a month in tips. I however have proof through bank statements/renters receipts showing I made $900-$1000 in wages every month, yet was still able to pay for my rent entirely through cash/tips, never taking anything from my bank account. This puts me at least at $750 a month in tips. So here's my prisoners dilemma, and something I'd like some business/legal advice on. Had I known about tips slips/tip reports at my old job, I would have done them at the end of the year for my tax returns. Instead I claimed that I only made $1200 a year in tips to the IRS two years running now, because that's what my boss put down on my W2s. So if I call up unemployment and let them know I should have theoretically been making more per month, won't they bring that information to the IRS as well, which will lead to me committing tax fraud/having to pay them what I owe them? I'm barely making enough month to month as is, so suddenly having to pay the IRS $5000+ isn't exactly feasible for me right now. The only reason I'm asking is because I quit that lovely job for a great job a few blocks from my house, and then they let me go today because the guy I was hired to replace wanted his job back. So now I get to hopefully get back on unemployment ( did I even work 680 hours this year? Hopefully! ), and I'd like to make at least enough to cover rent this time.
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Sep 17, 2014 05:24
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 05:26 |
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Elephanthead posted:I don't know how they adjust your benefits for income they didn't know about, but call unemployment and find out. They probably won't call the IRS, but they will want to see your amended tax returns and amended W-2s before they cut you your back benefits. The IRS will want you to pay taxes on those tips plus penalties and interest. It was my first tip based job, and I didn't know I had to sign off on tips. He knew how much I was making as he asked me several times how the money was at my store tipwise ( since I personally managed it. ) At no point did he inform me I had to fill out tip slips, he never gave me any TO fill out, and the when I asked about tipped wage when I got my first W-2, he told me he took care of it/it was already properly set up in the W-2. I was always terrified of W-2s, so I didn't take a close look at the tip income section until a few days ago. Before that I just sent it to a tax form company, they told me how much I'd get back, I said that'd be great, and went on my merry way. I plan to fix this with the IRS as soon as I get back on my feet. I'm just wondering if there is any sort of "Hey you weren't given the basic rundown of how this poo poo works, and your boss threw you under the bus because of it. Since you didn't know/the gain is so small we will just let this slide for now." clause for people who are naive enough to believe their first boss when they get told everything taxwise is under control.
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Sep 17, 2014 20:58
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