Paycheck/Money question

If he's saying the hours will be added to next week's check, it sounds like you were shorted hours worked on the original check.  In which case, you should have only been taxed on the gross pay on that check (hours worked x hourly rate).  And therefore shouldn't be getting double taxed, as next week's check will be for this week's hours worked plus the missing hours.  The bad thing is, you will may get taxed a little more, because the extra hours will up your gross and might bump you into a higher tax bracket.

 

The ideal solution would be to have them cut you an off-cycle check for the missing hours.  Then you'd be taxed at your normal rate, and you'd have your missing money a lot sooner.  Any decent-sized company should be able to do that.

 

I'm wondering what he means by an advance.  I assume he gives you money equal to the missing hours, which will then be deducted from the next check when those hours are reported?

Just be sure that it's withheld at the normal rate and not at a bonus rate (which is usually around 50%) and you should be fine. That said, i agree with Richard: get a separate OOPS check for the difference which clearly has the tax withholding on it.

Taxes withheld and taxed do not mean the same thing. Regardless of whether you have additional taxes withheld, you will get it back when you file.

 

Judas, I'm not sure about that bonus rate. Earned income is earned income. Bonuses are often withheld at a higher rate because they are larger than a usual paycheck and the government withholds it at a higher rate if it seems like you are now in a higher bracket (if you have the IRS withhold taxes at all).

 

ETA: and yeah, an advance is not what you need. It's another payroll check.

There was this one time where I won an award at work, some employee of the month thing, and one of the rewards was $100.  So I got a separate check for $100, just a standard issue company check.  But for tax purposes, they added the $100 on to my next paycheck.  Which put me in a higher tax bracket, leading to more tax being withheld from the check.  But then they deducted the $100 -- since I'd already been given it -- and then deducted the tax from what I'd usually make in a week (let's say $300).  The end result was that I had the tax on $400 taken away from $300.  So the extra $100 ended up being almost a wash.

 

Same thing with overtime.  During some of our special event times, I'd see people working 60, even 70 hours a week.  Which is great, but you reach a point where everything you're making is going straight to tax.  You might have worked 70 hours, but by the time everything has been taken out, you might as well have worked 50.  In fact, there was a time when working 39.5 hours and working 40 hours meant a bump in my tax bracket.

But they're only deducting the higher rate on the increments above the tax bracket, not the entire check.

 

Really?  Sure didn't seem like it, but this was like 1992.

 

So when you took home that check, the IRS would have withheld a rate as if you were making 36,400 per year (10% on 0-8700, 15% on 8701 - 35,350, 25% 35,350 - 36,400)... (i am working under the false assumption that this is all taxable income).

 

The big check would be withheld as if you were making 109,200  (10% on 0-8700, 15% on 8701 - 35,350, 25% 35,350 - 85,650, 28% on 85650 - 109,200).

 

You're spending the bulk of your time in that 25% bracket. If I've done my math right, your additional withholding would be about $28.

 

(my explanation was lost, but essentially, you only get in to that higher tax bracket at about $3300 for a biweekly check. So a $4200 check has $900 in the 28% bracket, or $28). The amount in the 25% bracket should wash with last weeks lower withholding)

This thread depresses me. I'm severely under-paid.

Yeah, holy shit. I thought I made decent bank. Then again, I have no degree and am single in a pretty expensive city. Maaannnn.