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Paid Under the Table

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Cindy501

Guest
What is the name of your state? Ohio


First and foremost, i apologize if this is posted in the wrong area.



Under the Table / Under the Counter Payment:

My situation is that i am a 21 year old college student. Approximately 4 months ago i began to work as a cashier for a family friend at their beverage store (no liquor; just beer, wine, cigs, and groceries). I am paid under the counter. I have decided to quit because the fear of going to jail, tax fraud, etc has caused me to lose sleep.

My question is of the legal penalties that i could suffer if i or the store was to get caught. Since i am over 18, i want to know if i can go to jail for this. I currently live with my parents and am a dependant of them. My father files my taxes. Am i putting my parents at legal risk as well?

I know it was a very unintelligent decision to accept a job under the counter. I realize that now. I just want to know what can happen to me legally.



Thank you.
 


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Ramoth

Guest
You should be claiming the wages paid to you on your tax return, and paying income tax and FICA taxes (both portions) on it. This isn't likely to be a "jail time" issue, but it can become a "money owed to the IRS" issue, and those can blow way out of control (example - a former employee owed $2000 in back taxes, and another $78000 on penalties and interest. Yes - $80,000 owed to the IRS, and at the rate he was paying he wasn't even paying the interest every month).

Also, you should learn an important lesson here - don't take jobs that pay under the table.
 
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Cindy501

Guest
Thank you Ramoth! I appreciate the advice. Very informative, especially about the penalty fees.


I am worried though about reporting my taxes because then the IRS will see that i have filed taxes and the owners of the store did not. I do not want to get them into trouble; i would feel awful if they went to jail or their store closed down.

The man and woman i work for are like an uncle and aunt (not biologically though). Is there any way to file the taxes as money i got for helping out my aunt and uncle for seasonal part time help? I worked at the store Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. Then i worked there 7 days per week from 7:00am to about 4:30pm just when they went on vacation for two weeks. After that is was back to my regular three nights per week. (And now i am quitting.)

Could i files the taxes as money earned from a small "helping-out" job.... like baby-sitting money (not that most people report babysitting money..)? Would that be a possible solution to paying my taxes and not getting them into trouble?

But then again, if one party reports something to the IRS i suppose it would only make sense that legally both would have to.

Also, not to write a novel, but i've had this "job" for about 4 months. Will the IRS wonder why i havent been paying my taxes for all this time? or are taxes done once per year? Can my parents, who file my taxes, get into any trouble?




And yes, this DEFINATELY serves as a lesson to not engage in activities that can bring about trouble/problems such as this. Also, i am 21 years old and should have learned about the tax process many, many years ago...... so i suppose this kinda forces me to learn.
 
R

Ramoth

Guest
Cindy,

First, if it's less than $600, don't even worry about it.

Second, the best thing for you, if you want to report the wages, is to call the IRS (you don't have to give them any names), and ask them what the best way to handle this is. You can even tell them that you earned the money from a variety of babysitting jobs, and just want to know if/how to report it.

Odds are, the IRS Stormtroopers will not come down on these people and put them in Tax Jail, unless they've made a habit of paying their employees under the table.
 

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