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I received a letter from the IRS today stating they instructed my employer to change my withholding rate to single and my withholding allowance to zero. I am flabbergasted ! I am married and have three children at home that are my defendants. I have never had any problems before and always receive a refund of taxes as I am a federal employee and pay taxes on time. I never received any prior notice that they were concerned or investigating my status. My employer is a federal agency and has all my legal documents of marriage. I have been there for over 16 years and cannot understand why I received this. What should I do? I cannot afford a further reduction in my net pay in this economy and I am very angry that the IRS dictates such improper practices that are obvious mistakes! Who can protect me from future practices such as this?
Optional Information: State/Country relating to question: Maryland Already Tried: Nothing. Just received letter today
Thanks for asking your question! I'm sorry to hear about your tax issue and I'm going to try my best to help you understand or resolve it.What you have is called a "lock in letter" which means essentially what you have said - and that is that the IRS is dictating what can be withheld from your paycheck. However there are things that you can do. According to the IRS, "The employee will be given a period of time before the lock-in rate is effective to submit for approval to the IRS a new Form W-4 and a statement supporting the claims made on the Form W-4 that would decrease federal Income Tax withholding. The employee must send the Form W-4 and statement directly to the IRS office designated on the lock-in letter. You must withhold tax in accordance with the lock-in letter as of the date specified in the lock-in letter, unless otherwise notified by the IRS. You will be required to take this action no sooner than 45 calendar days after the date of the lock-in letter. Once a lock-in rate is effective, an employer can not decrease withholding unless approved by the IRS."So, what you CAN do in your situation is send documentation to the IRS regarding your marital status and the status of your dependents. You can seek the assistance of a tax professional to draft this letter to you, since this correspondence will be directly with the IRS. Maybe you can get your rate locked in to something a little more reasonable. The IRS won't provide a reason for the lock-in letter, other than "significant underreporting." You can read more about this issue, here: http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=139412,00.htmlPlease take a moment to rate my service as "Great Service." Keep in mind, I have no control over the IRS and cannot fix the issue for you. However, I've given you advice on what you can do to hopefully lower the amount the IRS is proposing to be withheld from your pay.
Experience: Graduate Accounting Degree from Ole Miss