First post! Looking for advice on what to do/who to talk to for help.
I’m a 28F and worked for a large multinational retail chain for 3 years. I signed an electronic W-4 and selected “0” allowances for maximum tax withholding. I’ve always filed this way as I’m single with no children and never want to owe at end of the year. I checked my paystubs for accuracy and never noticed anything out of the ordinary.
3 years later I go to file my taxes. (I know I shouldn’t have waited but 2 cross country moves and a job change got me behind) and the box lifted under income tax is blank on all 3 W-2 forms. I panic, check my paystubs, and see only line items listed for SS and Medicare, but no federal income tax. In retrospect I should have noticed, but with 2 line items and hundreds of dollars coming out each week to tax - I didn’t notice that only 2/3 were being withheld. I take it to a tax professional who notices the W-2 listed as BOTH “0 allowances” AND “tax blocked”. She had never seen this before and was not able to advise.
Now - I’ve filed a lot of W-4’s in my day - my own as well as helped hundreds of others file when I onboard them to work for me, and I NEVER would have checked a box labeled “exempt”. The HR associate at this company got extremely defensive and insisted that I “checked this box”. However, I did not- and she refuses to issue me a copy of the initial form I signed. Further, I did not provide any proof or reasoning for exemption, and the company did not prompt me to sign a new W-4 when the 2 new tax years started, which is required by law and would have caught the error.
I’m now looking at paying income tax on roughly $150k in wages and interest. I do not have the income now to pay this and the IRS has been no help. Do I have any recourse? Can anyone help me?
TL;DR Employer didn’t withhold income tax for 3 years and I didn’t notice - who do I talk to for help?
Submitted May 11, 2019 at 10:58AM by saucyrosssy http://bit.ly/2VvsbfL
