No Pay Due To Tax Bracket?

I am a company driver. Due to not being able to turn in trip envelopes as I wanted to, due to routing, etc., I collected roughly 5000 miles in roughly 3 weeks. Once turned in, the payroll supervisor offered to push them through, but said I would be in a higher tax bracket if all miles were paid at once. I was under the assumption that an employee is taxed on annual gross income, not biweekly income. Somehow I feel as if the carrier wants to maintain positive cash flow while holding back what is due. They are holding back roughly 2000 miles because of this. Can a carrier hold back earned income, based on the reasoning of placing me in a higher taxes bracket?

Big White, your question mostly raises curiosity with me more so than it evokes answers.

Five thousand miles in three weeks is less than 1,700 miles per week. Then you claim that you couldn't...

turn in trip envelopes as I wanted to, due to routing, etc.

There's several red flags here, and I need some help in understanding what's going on here to make sense of this situation. If all you are running is 1,700 miles a week then you should have had plenty of time to take care of your business, and even make a couple of visits with your relatives. Heck, you could legally run that many miles in three days if you had a mind to. I do not see how you could not manage to turn in your trip envelopes. Most drivers now days use their smart phones and have this done in about two minutes or less. I just turned in a 3,200 mile load with ten stops on it and it took all of three minutes to take care of it. So, why are you delaying turning in those trips?

The answer to that question may be why your company payroll personnel are giving you the run around, which is what they are doing. Is this a large carrier? It sounds as if it were a very small operation from what you're saying, and they may be needing that trip information to process their invoices with. I am totally confused by your scenario, but I will just say this: You need to turn in those trips in a timely manner. If you take care of your business in a professional way that is going to go a long way toward helping them process your pay checks in a way that meets your needs.

Seems to me the employer pays and withholds based on what you put on your W-4. At least that's the way I did it when I had a small business. Your "tax bracket" is determined when you file your return at the end of the year...I think.

I'm no expert but it smells bad.

If you Gross 600 one week and 1500 the next Your Tax withholding will be at a higher rate. it changes the tax bracket. I worked on commision where you would get a small weekly and a large monthly bonus check... So basically a 600 a week check is taxed at a 31k a year rate and the 1500 week is taxed like you 78k a year so yea that make sense. But if your owed 5k miles they should pay you 5 k miles.

I am a company driver. Due to not being able to turn in trip envelopes as I wanted to, due to routing, etc., I collected roughly 5000 miles in roughly 3 weeks. Once turned in, the payroll supervisor offered to push them through, but said I would be in a higher tax bracket if all miles were paid at once. I was under the assumption that an employee is taxed on annual gross income, not biweekly income. Somehow I feel as if the carrier wants to maintain positive cash flow while holding back what is due. They are holding back roughly 2000 miles because of this. Can a carrier hold back earned income, based on the reasoning of placing me in a higher taxes bracket?

Processing the entire 3 weeks at the same time - would put you in a HIGHER WITHHOLDING BRACKET, then if you were paid the 3K miles you were paid.

It's 6 of one - 1/2 dozen of another really.

When did they plan on PAYING the 2,000 miles they owe you? Are you with such a SMALL CARRIER - that "holding back" $7-800 from you is going to "make or break them (if you are - run like hell)? The fact that you can't email or trans-flo your stuff in

Your "tax bracket" is dependant on your total income for the year. OTR drivers - after the "customary deductions", are likely to find themselves in the 15% tax bracket for taxes paid on "taxable income".

If the payroll supervisor offered to "push them through" - did you take him up on that offer?

In reality - you might have had a couple of extra $$ taken out on the withholding, if the payroll software assumed that you were claiming a single weeks check at that amount - but it wouldn't have made that much of a difference.

Ar carrier shouldn't be able to "hold back" any of your income, if it's not OK with you. Maybe they thought they were doing you a favor.

Rick

If I may:

This is probably considered back pay. Back pay is, by definition, "supplemental pay" to the IRS. The employer has two options for withholding: (1) percentage method or (2) aggregate method. The percentage method is simple: give you two checks, one for your regular pay (with your normal withholding) and another for this supplemental pay. By law, using this method, they have to withhold that second check at 25%. Using the aggregate method will often also result in a bumped up tax withholding. If too much is withheld, you would (of course) get the excess back when you file your tax return. So that part is not unusual.

The misreporting of your miles I'm not as sure about. But it seems more likely to me that your employer is trying to do you a favor (by spreading those excess miles into future paychecks and not defining them as back pay, thus more money in your pocket) than any nefarious purpose.

A couple others beat me to it. :)

We are expected to scan our paperwork within 24 hours after delivering. The get a little ****y when you don't.

Why? They can't bill for our services until they have received the paperwork and also affects our company's factoring. We're no mom and pop outfit but still a smaller 550 trucks so they do want that operating cash flowing. The ole man has already placed the order for 200 new trucks for 2017 (they don't keep any more than 3 years) and he's building a new terminal /corporate offices in Cedar Rapids.

Yes they also did you a favor. If you gross more, they generally withhold taxes at a much higher rate. Haven't you ever worked a certain amount of overtime and actually brought home less? I know I sure did as an hourly worker.. not often though because I knew at what point to "say no" to extra hours lol.

Big White,...reconciling paperwork is all part of doing your job. You are a professional and do not have a secretary at your disposal. Not to pile on the already leaning bandwagon, but at least make an effort to be in more control of your destiny. Take charge Man.