why does my check stub show my taxes as deducted, but they weren't deducted when i add it up? is this legal?

Question

i just filed chapter 7 bankruptcy and i had a garnishment coming out of my paycheck. the lawyer said the garnishment would stop, and it did, but they didn't take my taxes out either. the strange thing is that on my check stub, it shows they took out taxes and how much, but i made my gross pay plus $1.84 more, so what gives? is this right? should i worry about it? my gross pay was $626 (before taxes) and some change and i got payed $628 and some change. is there something in it for the company if they do this? can my employer make me pay it back if it's their fault?

Answer 1

There is an obvious payroll error that will be caught eventually. You need to let the payroll department know about it now rather than in the future becuase they will make you pay it back even if it their fault. It is better to do it now when there is not much to pay back.

Answer 2

Talk to your payroll department, and ask them what's going on. Sounds like something is wrong.

And yes, if they made a mistake, you'd have to pay it back, so there's no point in trying to let it slip by. They might or might not worry about the $1.84, but would either take out double taxes from your next check, or adjust records so your W-2 at the end of the year shows what actually came out and you'd end up getting that much less of a tax refund if you have one, or owing that much to the feds and state if you don't have a refund coming.

There's nothing in it for them to deliberately do this. Sounds like a mistake on somebody's part when they took off the garnishment.

Answer 3

Sounds wrong but if you happen to have a 401K that is partially non tax deductible being taken out of your pay, it might be confusing based upon how they are showing it on your check stub since you aren't required to pay income tax on those earnings at the time it is deducted. However you still should be able to get from gross to net. Sounds like a question to ask of your HR department. Depending upon what the error is, they may pay it or deduct it from your next check.