View Full Version : Can my employer force me to pay their portion of FICA?
pstaylorphd
Jul 2, 2010, 08:09 AM
I am a w-2 employee with a written agreement that the employer withhold 35% of the receipts I bring in as a therapist. They have also been deducting their share of FICA when they take the agreed upon 35%. At that point they send that reduced amount on for payroll processing where my share of FICA is deducted from wages along with other taxes. I have asked them to stop and they will not. My last request in writing was ignored. What should I do next?
Irish_land
Jul 2, 2010, 09:28 AM
Why don't you speak with department of employment or work in that country.
I stuck with an agency who is trying to put me at work but for their own requirement they are delaying my process and cheaply threaten me to report me to the employer later when I explained their behaviour they themselves confessed employer don't want to speak to them either as now he can speak to me directly, sometimes the agencies or the management due to lack of ignorance spoils everything, in your case you can report it to the authority, they think foreign nationals sometimes like cattle or worse.
Fr_Chuck
Jul 2, 2010, 09:38 AM
So they merely get a percent of the income you bring in ?
What about them paying unemployment taxes on you,
Are they also withholding your social security and paying it in ? And your state and federal taxes, are they being withheld?
If you are keeping all the money expect for a percent you give them, you sound more like a independent contractor, not an employee
pstaylorphd
Jul 2, 2010, 11:18 AM
I do not meet the IRS requirements (there's a checklist) to be a contractor. Yes, they pay unemployment and yes they are withholding federal, state and local taxes plus my share of FICA which includes Social security and medicare,
AtlantaTaxExpert
Jul 6, 2010, 08:21 AM
If they are paying unemployment taxes for you, and withholding your share of the FICA taxes (6.2% for Social Security and 1.45% for Medicare), plus federal, state and local income taxes, then they are withholding the CORRECT amounts of tax as required by law.
Now, if the FICA withholding is TWICE the percentages noted above, then they are OVER-WITHHOLDING and are breaking the law. You need to point that fact out to them and have the practive stopped.
excon
Jul 6, 2010, 08:33 AM
Hello p:
As an employee, the amount they withhold is based upon the exemptions you listed on your W-4. It's not up to your employer to arbitrarily make that determination. If, however, they're holding the excess in escrow for your account, at least they're not stealing from you. Nonetheless, it's NOT the way a business SHOULD be run.
In better times, I'd be right there telling you to fight for your rights... But, jobs are really hard to come by these days, and if you don't think you can find another one right away, I'd bite the bullet for the time being.
Certainly, your original complaint was in WRITING, as well as their response... If so, when you DO leave, as you surly will, (who wants to work for somebody like THAT), if you documented your dispute, you'll be able to sue them for all the money they cheated you out of.
excon
pstaylorphd
Jul 7, 2010, 10:11 AM
They ARE indeed taking out twice the percentages. I have asked them to stop and they are refusing. Now they are ignoring me altogether.