After all, state law trumps federal law:In February 2009, my wife submitted a written termination of the withholding agreement pursuant to 26 CFR 31.3402 (p)-1(b)(2). The company continued to withhold income taxes in spite of the written termination. In February 2011, two years later, the company received a Notice of Levy (for a frivolous civil penalty plus interest) and, in spite of my wife's written objections and request that the company verify certain information with the IRS before complying with the administrative Notice of Levy, the company all too gladly complied and began stealing over $2,000 from each of her paychecks this past month, and they're still not done.
Not only that, federal law trumps the IRS:Florida Statute 222.11 protects the disposable earnings of anyone who qualifies as 'head of family' from garnishment, which my wife qualifies as head of family in this case. Further, Florida Statutes Chapter 77 makes no provision for an administrative Notice of Levy for garnishment but requires a court order according to our understanding. Furthermore, the relation back doctrine requires a court order.
(Memo to fight4rights: even if a tax deficiency were a "debt" under the FDCPA (which it isn't), the definition of "debt collector" excludes governmental employees (see 5 USC 803(6)(C)), and nothing in the statute requires a court order.As well, income taxes fall under the Federal Debt Collection Procedure Act as 'debt' which also requires a court order.
The wife's employer's lawyer responded to Mrs. fight4rights:
Despite fight4right's attempt to blot out the personal information from the response, his wife's name and address, her employer, and the attorney's name are all visible on the copy of the response. Proofreading is such a lost art.My wife submitted all of the applicable law to the company, including a copy of http://www.scribd.com/doc/2682567/Socia ... t-Required which discusses at length the withholding agreement issue, a copy of her original written termination of the withholding agreement, and other applicable law. Yet, in spite of this, the attorney (which obviously didn't read everything) responded that the company must obey the Notice of Levy, citing a few court cases, and must start withholding income taxes at the rate of a single person because she refuses to fill out (enter into) a new W-4 withholding agreement. To view a copy of the attorney's response, go to:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/51237022
But wait, there's more! Who should come to fight4right's rescue other than....Patrick Mooney. Mooney's sage advice: quit your job. Brilliant!
You can't make this stuff up.I have been faced with a similar situation at my company. After working for a year as a freelance worker (I resigned my position as an "employee"..in common sense of the word..last February), my company is deciding to treat me as an "employee" because they are worried about an IRS audit if they don't withhold from my earnings.
My answer? I quit.
What will happen to me? Don't know...a part of that is in god's hands. But I know that I will not be a slave any more to the Federal Government, especially in regards that I have a full understanding of who they are and who they represent. (Hint: NOT the American people).
http://www.losthorizons.com/phpBB/viewt ... 7311#27311