Is it illegal for the owner of my job to pay me with money that is from another business that he owns?
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Is it illegal for the owner of my job to pay me with money that is from another business that he owns?
I just received my W-2 from a company I never worked for. So I did my research and discovered that the owner at my place of employment owns another business, the business that is on my W-2. Is it illegal for him to take money out of a business to pay his employees at another business? And can I get in trouble by filing my taxes with this W-2?
Asked on February 1, 2012 under Employment Labor Law, Texas
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
An employer may "think" he or she is working for business A, but is actually employed and paid by business B, which is a parent of A, a subsidiary of A, a sister company of A, a division of A, etc. It does not matter if the name of the busines you tell people you worked for does not match the name on your paychecks or W-2 form (and those themselves do not necessarily have to match, either)--as long as you are reporting and paying taxes on the correct amount of income, you should be fine.
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