Any accountants here?

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

I don't think anyone here does accounting but maybe I'm wrong.

I was told by our finance guy that they've been deducting my local OH taxes so they have to withhold an extra $260 by the end of the 1st quarter.

OOOOH, so you mean in the next 2 paychecks. We were literally just getting by on my check. And now my check will be smaller and you're docking my pay.

I'm SO MAD!!!!! This all happened because we changed accounting firms and got small cost of living adjustments in January. So, apparently, they somehow messed something up when my check amount changed.

I'm so upset. I literally cried on the phone when I told DF; I feel like I'm supposed to be supporting us but the cost of living in two places is too high. DF thinks that the accounting firm should be responsible for their error. I just feel so badly about this whole thing. Does anyone know if the accounting firm is in any way accountable?

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

Re: Any accountants here?

You're absolutely right, I do owe that money. I don't believe them to be responsible for paying it (though DF thinks they should) but I don't believe they can do it over the next two pay checks!!!

Yes, I did notice my checks were larger but it didn't seem out of line with the COL raise. We get paid every two weeks so over the 5 paychecks we've had so far, the "overage" is <$50 per check so I didn't notice because I thought it was all COL. Since they never provide us exactly what our new checks will be, there's no way for me to know exactly what I should have been expecting because I know I get "X more" but there's taxes, 401K, etc so it didn't seem that out of line. When we knew my new check amount, we adjusted our budget accordingly (especially with the kitchen construction) and spent the money.

Not only do they now need to take $260 out but it is out of a lower check amount. SO functionally, I could be losing $200 per check from what I expected!

I'm mad at myself that I'm not smart enough to calculate all the taxes, etc. so I could have caught this. I'm the girl who literally writes down our expenses to the penny and things are pretty tight! VERY ANNOYED AT MYSELF.

[GrayMatterWife]

Re: Any accountants here?

I am not an accountant and have nothing substantively constructive to add...but I thought I would thrown in a big, in-all-caps, sympathetic: "THAT STINKS!!!"

I kind of know what you're going through: when I started at my old law firm, years ago, they botch my first five paychecks. It seemed like every time they corrected the last error, they incurred a new one--but nothing like the dollar amounts you're suffering through. I am really sorry you are going through this, and have to live on smaller paychecks! Like it's been suggested: hopefully, since it was their error, they could work with you to "spread out" the recapture of the missing withholding, over a larger period of time, to minimize the per-paycheck impact.