vB Easy Archive - Commission Question!

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Commission Question!
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Posted by: rabisdogis

So I left Cingular back in May and decided to come back in September. When I came back I found that I was now considered an Orange employee and not a Blue one anymore. I should be getting my commission check anytime now. Another girl working in my store did the same thing. She left and came back too. She just got her first commission check since shes been back and we noticed that 42% of her wages were taken out due to taxes. Her check ended up being $243 and some change. We did a little research and found that At&t used to take out 31%. Can anyone else confirm this? What happened that made Cingular deduct an extra 11% out of our checks in taxes? We're already making very little as it is. I don't mean to complain, I am grateful that I'm getting paid at all but this is not right. Thanks guys!

Posted by: noodles5666

I don't know about your market. But mine only takes out 32% on my commission checks. And I have been Orange since I started.

Posted by: Copernicus325

40% for us in PAC...

Posted by: kpfitz12

right now as it stands current blue employees are having 27%(or there about depending on market) taken out of there commission checks for taxes. if you are a orange employee, they are taken out around 40% for taxes on commission checks. I believe that on January 1st the commission taxes for blue employees are changing to match current Orange employees (around 40% or so).

Posted by: ivwshane

Why would taxes differ from one company to the next?

If employee "A" works for employer "A" and makes the same as employee "B" at employer "B" how can a company decide to take out more or less taxes than the other company, isn't that all determined by the tax bracket the employees are in?

Posted by: gregsmith59

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivwshane

Why would taxes differ from one company to the next?

If employee "A" works for employer "A" and makes the same as employee "B" at employer "B" how can a company decide to take out more or less taxes than the other company, isn't that all determined by the tax bracket the employees are in?

There are multiple payroll withholding tables. The one for irregular payments (e.g. bonuses) is at a lower rate than the one for regular payments (e.g. salary). It sounds like AT&T was withholding some of your pay at the irregular rates, while Cingular is withholding everything at the regular rates.

In the end you will just have more tax withholding to put on your income tax form, and will owe less or get a bigger refund. It's kind of like enforced savings. If that bugs you, update your W-4 to show more withholding allowances.

Posted by: todd_jg2000

Ummm... not only are tax rates different, but you all could have vastly different withholdings Married or not? Kids or not? Adjusted withholdings for mortgage interest deduction or not? As gregsmith59 mentioned, this will have a big difference on the amount taken out.

Posted by: ivwshane

Yeah I guess I should have asked whether everything about the two employees are the same.

However in a hypothetical situation, where everything is equal, deductions, pay, hours, com, etc, the taxes should be the same?

Posted by: gregsmith59

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivwshane

Yeah I guess I should have asked whether everything about the two employees are the same.

However in a hypothetical situation, where everything is equal, deductions, pay, hours, com, etc, the taxes should be the same?

If it is all regular pay, then the taxes should be the same.

But if you throw in bonuses and other irregular pay items, then there is judgement involved in how to tax the bonuses.

Also, keep in mind that certain benefits are taxable - e.g. high value life insurance.

Also, keep in mind that they might make different basic W-4 assumptions when migrating someone from the AT&T to the Cingular payroll system. Cingular is notorious for poor programming practices.

Posted by: rabisdogis

All I know is that when I was blue in May, they were deducting 31% and when I came back and got rehired as Orange, taxes jumped up to 42%. I have no kids and no spouse and I am not paying for high value life insurance. My benefits also went from being like $12 to $29. Now, the one blue employee still left in the store is still having roughly 31% taken out of taxes but her insurance just went up from $12 something to $27.

Posted by: gregsmith59

Quote:

Originally Posted by rabisdogis

All I know is that when I was blue in May, they were deducting 31% and when I came back and got rehired as Orange, taxes jumped up to 42%. I have no kids and no spouse and I am not paying for high value life insurance. My benefits also went from being like $12 to $29. Now, the one blue employee still left in the store is still having roughly 31% taken out of taxes but her insurance just went up from $12 something to $27.

Then you should be expecting a bigger tax refund next year. It's not like Cingular is doing something with the money other than passing it onto the gov't.

Like I said above, if your refund is going to be too big then modify your W-4. If you don't know what that means, talk to your HR folks. They should be able to explain your current settings and give you a new form to update them.