My Ex employer filled out my W4 form without my knowledge, and didn't take State out How do i get her on Fraud

Question

My Ex employer filled out my W4 form without my knowledge, and didn't take State out How do i get her on Fraud

Answer 1

What state are you in?

They shouldn't have paid you until you filled out the forms yourself.  If you filled it out incorrectly or didn't do it at all, most companies would play it safe and use a default setting of single, zero allowances which would withhold the maximum tax.

If you live in a state with state income tax, there are actually two W-4s to fill out: federal and state.  They are separate.  Were you given the two forms to complete and failed to do so or did they just never give them to you?  Did you have to pay penalties because this tax was not withheld or did you just notice it on on a first paycheck?  Often, if earnings are low, state taxes don't get taken out until you reach a certain income threshhold.  Unless you can get your hands on the fake state W4 that was filled out for you AND you suffered damages (IRS penalties), you can't do anything about fraud.  Just ask for a new form and fill it out the way you want.

Edit: I'm still sleepy.  Ex-employer.  It's still only going to matter if you had to pay penalties.  If you just ended owing at tax time but not penalized, there won't be much you can do.  If you don't work there anymore, depending on the record retention laws, the W4 you or your boss filled out may have already been shredded.  Without that, they can just claim that you filled it out that way and claimed exempt from state taxes.

Answer 2

w-4 has nothing to do with state income tax - it only affects federal inc tax. It's YOUR responsibility to look at your pay stub every week and see if everything looks right. How could you NOT notice there were no state taxes being withheld and not say anything about it. you have no case

Answer 3

Without a W-4 and the State equivalent on file with your employer, taxes are withheld at the highest level.  If no State tax is being withheld then it's a virtual certainty that your income is too low to owe any State tax.

This isn't fraud, although it is improper procedure.  You rectify it by giving your employer a properly completed Form W-4 and your State's equivalent form.  The only affect that this will have is that LESS tax will be withheld from your pay.  If none is being withheld now, nothing will change.

Answer 4

If you do not submit a W-4 or the State equivalent to your employer, your employer can do what is reasonable to withhold your taxes on your behalf.  Your employer is allowed to fill out your W-4 on your behalf, without any fraud or perjury involved.

You can obtain the W-4 and State withholding documents off the Internet or from you State Department of Revenue and submit them yourself.  The IRS recommends but does not require under any penalty that the employer provide withholding forms to the employee.

Answer 5

Do you understand that the money that was to be withheld was your money?

Do you understand that every pay period, you could have looked at your paystub and verified how much was (or wasn't) being withheld and said something right then?

If none was withheld, that just means that *you* still have to pay the money and will do so at tax time.  The state isn't really going to care who shoulda, coulda, woulda sent the money in.  The state will expect you to pay it.