OK, A question for Employed Pittsburghers...

[Hemingway]

Thank you all for your help! Hopefully we can get a refund asap. Unfortunately, we are owed 3 years worth...a big chunk of money! I Have grave doubts about seeing any refund for prior years, but we'll give it a shot! Go Steelers!

[Hopes]

The first thing to do is to straighten our your current withholding so your taxes are paid properly to Plum going forward. The other option is to have them not withhold any local taxes from his pay, but they can only do that if they don't have a fascility in Plum. If they consider your home a sattelite office, then they will have to withhold taxes. If that's the case, you first need to make sure they withhold for the proper locality, Plum, for future taxes.

As for getting a refund, you won't be able to get your money back from your husband's employer because they already paid the money out. As a result, you need to go to the City of Pittsburgh for your refund since that is where his employer paid the money.

Here are some examples to help you understand:

1) Years ago, I worked for a company based in California. They paid California state tax. I couldn't get the money back from my employer. I had to get the money transfered from California to Pennsylvania.

2) My husband works for a company that is out of state. His employer has an office in central PA. As a result, they pay our local taxes to the municipality of Somerset even though we live in Fox Chapel. Fox Chapel retrieves our money from Somerset once a year.

I think your starting point would be to go discuss the problem with Plum. Plum wants your money, and Plum will do what's necessary to retrieve your money. Perhaps the refund won't go directly to you, but you won't have to pay local taxes for the next three years to Plum. Or perhaps you'll be able to get a refund from Plum after they're retrieved your money and you're over paid.

Bottom line: your husband's employer isn't where you need to go for the refund. You only go to them to rectify the issue going forward. Since you only communicated with them via telephone, you won't be able to prove that you've contacted them previously about this issue. Make sure you write your husband's employer and send the letter certified mail. Honestly, I've never heard of an employer that was so unprofessional that employees couldn't reach human resources or accounting. But I'll take your word for it----that's why I'm saying to keep your communications in writing via certified mail. Save your letters.

[Hemingway]

It sounds very complicated! I guess we will search all avenues, I will attack at our town hall, and my husband can contact his human resources. As far as contacting them goes, one of the problem stems from Hurricane Katrina, and their lack of well trained staff since then. Almost none of the home office staff returned. It also is very apparent that the home office staff tends to have a rather 'laid back' approach to things. We will just keep on them about it, and go up the chain of command to solve the problem. I'm still hoping that we can see some of the money back, or as you say, at least diverted to future EIT payments. Thanks!

[Maaz]

I assume that they are paying the local taxes on a quarterly basis, and that they possibly haven't paid Q3 2007 yet (a lot of times they are paid towards the end of the month). If so, then they should be able to issue a refund for this. While it is correct that Pittsburgh will need to refund all the previous taxes paid, he may need his employer's help to verify that the taxes were paid to Pittsburgh and not some other city. His employer possibly may also need to issue a letter to Pittsburgh confirming to mistake to assist him in receiving a refund. In any case, assuming that Pittsburgh did indeed receive the money, they are probably wondering why they haven't received any local tax returns for it. You will likely need to also send them proof of residence to convince them that they don't deserve the money.

[Hemingway]

Yes, it will be quite interesting how this all turns out. I have no clue who to contact in the city tax office, but I'm sure that the good people at Plum town hall will have SOME idea of who to contact. It just occurred to me that the money could not be turned over to Plum borough, we would have technically paid about 6.5 years worth of future EIT. I doubt it would be legal for them to hold that...what if we moved within that time period? I will update as soon as I know anything! Thanks again.