We my rights if my employer made a mistake and overpaid me on my last paycheck of last year?
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We my rights if my employer made a mistake and overpaid me on my last paycheck of last year?
I reported it to them and they not only want me to pay the difference but they also want me to pay the additional taxes and said that I will get it back in my tax return. According to them, it has to be done this way because it was the last check of the year. They said they would prepare a payback agreement and I said I wanted something in the agreement saying I would get the tax difference back in my tax return. When I got my W-2 the gross was different than the YTD on the last check and when I prepared my taxes I did not see where I would get it back. I cannot move forward with my taxes. This has been dragging on for over a month with no agreement or correction from them.
Asked on February 9, 2016 under Employment Labor Law, Georgia
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
Legally, you have to repay anything they paid to taxes on your behalf as part of an overpayment: whether the money goes to you or to the IRS (and/or state tax authority) on your behalf to pay your taxes, it is still money paid to or for you, from which you benefit. That said, you would only have to repay the tax amount if they can show that they did in fact withhold the money and send it to the government for you, and you can also require that all the documentation tie together and make sense. You should keep doing what you have been doing: trying to work with the employer to understand the situation before paying. Make sure you either communicate in writing or follow up oral communications (e.g. phone calls) with writing summarizing what was discussed, and the writing is sent some way you can prove delivery, so you create a "paper trail."
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