kamlet[at]panix.com (Arthur Kamlet) writes:

- quote -

My mistake, not hers. I thought it was "10 or more," hence
"more than 9." The mistake is irrelevant in this case,
since the W4 I submitted specified 12 allowances.

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Jonathan Kamens <jik[at]kamens.brookline.ma.us> wrote:

- quote -

The IRS Publication (Pub 15) declares the number for IRS
notification to be more than 10; i.e., 11. So where does
the 9 comes from anyway? All she has to do is look at the
circular or Pub and there it is: More than 10.

__
Art Kamlet ArtKamlet [at] AOL.com Columbus OH K2PZH

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"Jonathan Kamens" <jik[at]kamens.brookline.ma.us> wrote

- quote -

<snip to save space
- quote -

Yes, you are correct, and the payroll manager isn't.

Unfortunately, you'll have to rock the boat, or get a large
refund at the end of the year.

In the mean time, I suggest you submit (tomorrow) a W-4 with
9 exemptions to help reduce the withholdings.

--
Paul A. Thomas, CPA, PC
Athens, Georgia
taxman[at]negia.net

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jik[at]kamens.brookline.ma.us (Jonathan Kamens) writes:

- quote -

You're right. Payroll people are worse than bankers, I think.

I suggest you talk to her boss or yours, asking that she
produce something in writing from the IRS that confirms what
she's telling you.

When the IRS moved me from DC to Los Angeles in December it
took them 5 months to switch to CA withholding. When they
finally had the current pay fixed and I requested that the
YTD withholding be credited to CA instead of DC, payroll's
immediate response was "DC won't allow it." After writing
to DC and getting a "we couldn't care less" letter, I went
to my boss telling her that my next stop was the newspapers
if someone didn't get this fixed. End of problem.

Phil Marti
Topeka, KS

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Because I over-withheld during the first half of the year, I
recently recalculated the allowances on my W4 and came up
with 12 for the remainder of the year. I submitted the new
W4 to my employer's payroll department a couple of weeks
ago, but when I got my paycheck yesterday, the smaller
number of allowances was still in effect.

I asked the payroll manager about this, and she claimed that
she is not allowed to put the new W4 into effect until the
IRS approves it.

Now, I've claimed more than 9 allowances before, and there
has never been a delay for IRS approval. My understanding
is that although my employer is required to send a copy of
the W4 to the IRS, they aren't required to wait to put it
into effect -- they're only required to change my
withholding if the IRS subsequently tells them to do so.

The payroll manager claims that she called the IRS about it
and they told her over the phone that she needed to wait for
their approval before applying the higher number of
allowances. Of course, representatives of the IRS *never*
give out incorrect information over the telephone, right?
The payroll manager claims that it could take months for the
IRS to approve the higher allowances, which means that my
careful calculations for how many allowances I should claim
to come out correct in the end are useless.

I spent some time researching the issue on the IRS Web site
and found three different documents which seem to confirm my
understanding that the payroll manager is supposed to put
the new W4 into effect and leave it unless the IRS notifies
her to do otherwise. The references I found were:

* At http://www.irs.gov/faqs/page/0,,id%3D15919,00.html, I
see this: "The service center will send you further
instructions if it determines that you should not honor the
Form W-4." There is nothing there about needing to wait for
confirmation that you *should* honor the W4.

* Also,
http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/page/0,,id%3D16275,00.html says,
"If you receive a revised Form W–4 from an employee, you
must put it into effect no later than the start of the first
payroll period ending on or after the 30th day from the date
you received the revised Form W–4." That would not seem
possible if you were required to wait for approval from the
IRS before processing some W4's.

* Also, http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15.pdf says, "Base
withholding on the Forms W-4 that you send in unless the IRS
notifies you in writing to do otherwise."

Despite these, the payroll manager continues to maintain
that she can't put the new W4 into effect until the IRS
tells her it's OK. She refuses to call the IRS to ask for
an explanation of why the information they gave her
previously appears to contradict the publications on their
Web site.

Can anyone (a) confirm that my understanding of IRS rules is
correct, and if so, (b) offer any suggestions for how to
convince the payroll manager to process my W4?

Thanks.

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