I began working for a large company in June. I work exclusively from home. When I signed on, they said it was fine to work remotely but they didn’t want to officially tag me as a “remote worker” in their system. Instead, they assigned me to an office that’s a 3 hour driving commute from my actual home with the understanding that I do not need to go in. They never provided a reason for this but I didn’t push for one either.
The issue is that the payroll department is withholding taxes from my check for the city which they’ve assigned me. This is in addition to normal state and federal taxes . It’s a sizable chunk too - 2.5% of gross pay.
This wouldn’t bother me if I lived there or even if I commuted regularly and utilized their public services. Since neither of those things are true, I'm not sure I need to be paying this tax.
HR explained that this withholding is automatic based on my office location in their system of record and the only thing I can do is change offices and the withholding will update to reflect the new location.
It occurred to me later that there is yet another office that is roughly the same distance from my actual home but this city requires no income tax withholding. However, this is not a location where people in my division typically work. If I was assigned this location the withholding should be zero.
I am tempted to talk to management and ask if I can be assigned to that location instead. I could use that money to increase my 401k contribution.
Is this allowed? I'm concerned that changing my base location to avoid taxes is fraudulent somehow. I don’t want to get myself or my employer in hot water.
Any advice is appreciated.
State is OH
Submitted December 05, 2021 at 09:46PM by clubrooster https://ift.tt/2ZVrQX8
