My company that I worked for was a construction company, for 14 years they refused to pay us overtime for travel time to and from cities and job sites, Also they did not take taxes out for this either. I have now left the company and am receiving letters from the IRS about these monies.
A. Was this legal for them to do it?
B. My W2 didn't reflect the travel time under gross pay, so I didn't know how much it was each year, the company was recently audited and now I receiving letters from the IRS
C. What should I do (are there any legal rights being violated against me and the other employees?)


Thank you very much in advance for your response!


My W2 for 2008 showed taxable and non taxable for the first time, the secretary at the office told me to use the nontaxable on my tax form. Was this correct?

Shanuck:

I would really need to see the IRS letters to properly judge whether the overtime is actually taxable.

However, if you did not receive the pay, I cannot see HOW the IRS considers pay NOT received as taxable income.

Personally, if I were you, I would contact an experienced ax professional, bring in all of the paperwork, and get some face-to-face advice on how to handle this.

They aren't trying to tax the overtime not received, What the company did was Not pay overtime for travel, nor did they withhold taxes on the straight time pay we received for travel, so the IRS is trying to get the taxes on the straight time travel pay the company told us was not taxable.. In other words they told us hey guys you do not get overtime for travel, but you do not have to pay taxes on the straight time you receive. Thank you so much for your reply.

Okay, now it is clear.

Unfortunately, the IRS considers travel pay for local travel to be taxable compensation, so I doubt that seeing a tax professional will help, unless you want professional help in negotiating with the IRS.