• thefartographer@lemm.ee
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    10 months ago

    Good idea! You should always fill out your tax forms with fraudulent information. I can’t think of a single law that would bar you from using fraudulent means to evade taxes.

    Just ask famous-person, and star of 33% of The Expendables movies, Wesley Snipes! Man, he was so good in 1/3 of those movies… I wonder why he wasn’t in any of other 2/3 of The Expendables movies, which were filmed and released between 2008 and 2013.

    Oh well, I’m not one to audit Hollywood’s choices, I’m sure they had their reasons.

  • circuscritic@lemmy.ca
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    10 months ago

    Yeah, it’s called claiming 0 (zero) exempt.

    Not paying, but with the right information, seems a lot less risky (legally) than lying on IRS forms.

    In fact, I’m pretty sure there’s a bunch of fine print on those exact documents explaining how lying on them will “fuck yo shit right up”.

    Note: Exempt obviously doesn’t mean you won’t owe taxes, just that they won’t be withheld automatically on your paychecks. It’s also not uncommon in sales to go exempt for single large commission check, or bonus.

    Edit: Mixed up max withholding and no withholding. Fixed now, my bad.

    • Skyrmir@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      The backlog on catching fraud makes it worse too. People will think they’ve got a good scam going for a few years before the IRS finally gets around to busting them. By that time they have multiple years of fraud and tax evasion charges all piled up.

      • snooggums@kbin.social
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        10 months ago

        Which is a big deal for those who aren’t rich enough to drag it out as a never ending audit until they die of old age.

    • ramble81@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      Isn’t it the other way around? Claiming zero means they take the maximum amount in taxes out. For every dependent you claim, they reduce the amount they take out. I’m sure there’s a cap but they guy probably thinks he can claim 99 and then not fill out his taxes.

      • SuperEars@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        FWIW the post-2020 Form W4 did away with picking a number of allowances. Now you write in a dollar figure comprised of multiples of $2000 and $500 as Step 4 states.

        Seeing a low single-digit “number of allowances” written in Step 4 spotlights who read the instructions on the form and who didn’t.

      • circuscritic@lemmy.ca
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        10 months ago

        You’re right, I got em switched in my early morning head. Revised to show correct terminology for no withholding.

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I’d argue that it’s perfectly fine to lie on those or to mark zero. It’s just a way to calculate tax withholding. If you follow it, you’re not likely to go wrong but if you don’t, it’s all on you

      • when you file taxes, you need to settle up, and that may be a shock if you haven’t withheld enough
      • there are rules for how much you had to have withheld, and that’s going to suck when they catch those fines
      • circuscritic@lemmy.ca
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        10 months ago

        There’s a HUGE difference between falsifying information (lying) on federal forms, and not having your employer withhold taxes on your paycheck.

        • The first option is federal criminal offense
        • The second option isn’t
        • AA5B@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          IRS FAQs for W-4 say both that it’s not mandatory and how they’ll treat it if you just sign and return as in the example

          I don’t believe a W-4 ever goes to the IRS, it just tells your employer how much in taxes to withhold from your pay. IRS doesn’t care, until it’s time to file taxes, then you’d better have complied with all tax regulations

    • TheFriar@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      Lol and they also said “all rights reserved,” which is clearly them hearing a phrase that has nothing to do with what they think it’s about, but sounds like it might, and thinking it’s a magic phrase that means “I have the right to do whatever I want.”

      Or they’re copyrighting their “signature?” Who the fuck knows

  • frickineh@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    This seems like a good way to get fired from your job, and then they can’t withhold any taxes because there won’t be a paycheck. Oh shit, I just figured out tax evasion!

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Your job doesn’t give a shit.

      Anyone can claim exempt from withholdings and not have to pay any thru the deductions.

      But you’re not exampt from taxes. So at the end of the year you get a bill for everything.

      Even if you don’t pay that, tax evasion isnt your jobs problem, it’s a you problem.

      • frickineh@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        No, but writing all this nonsense on work paperwork is a great well to tell people you’re full on crazy and are likely to be a huge pain in the ass with poor judgment. Sovcits are big fans of rules lawyering anything they don’t want to do, so I would honestly fire them immediately rather than deal with them long term.

        • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          You widely overestimate how much of a fuck employers give…

          At most when they see this, they’d laugh and say you’re gonna be fucked.

          You think anyone who got an important job tried this shit?

          Or that employers care about disposable low rank employees?

          • AA5B@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            It’s not even the employer that doesn’t give a fuck: for most of us, they’re just forwarding to ADP or similar and don’t care unless that vendor rejects it

  • edgemaster72@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Literally screwed up at the first box (First name and middle initial), not sure why anyone would trust them after that.

  • YurkshireLad@lemmy.ca
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    10 months ago

    Man with so tiny an income that he doesn’t pay taxes, boasts that he has beaten the system by avoiding taxes?

  • UmeU@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    As an employer, I wouldn’t accept the form and the employee wouldn’t be able to start work until the form is filled out properly. They can go to town in step 4, claiming all the dependents they want, but there is no box for ‘write in whatever the hell you want’. I even make sure they keep their signature inside the lines and that it matches their ID.