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Old 06-07-2010, 01:03 PM
 
3 posts, read 20,955 times
Reputation: 10

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Hello,
My husband and I moved in to swissvale end of december 2009. I don't really understand all about taxes, I am from out of US. I work from home and I am listed as part of our HQ employee which based in Boston. My employer told me that as soon as I moved in to Pitsburgh I need to fill out the "New Tax Form." I went to the website that my HR directed me to and couldn't find anything at that time (around january). So I made a few phone call and they told me to go directly to the PAMS office in my area. I went to the office, and I explain what my employer told me and my situation, PAMS took my mailing address and told me to wait, they will mail me something via post. I waited and waited .... naturally I forgot about it until Tax time last april, I file my state and federal tax but I still don't get anything from PAMS via post. So we went there again. This time the lady gave me a a form called Earned Income Tax Return. My husband told me that is not what we need (He is american and from Pittsburgh) - he says he will call them again. But apparently he forgot again, and now he says he is waiting for the bill from PAMS, I am confused, honestly he is not helping me in this matter he doesn't seems to care whether or not all our taxes getting paid in time, we already got penalized for delinquent on the other state, I wasn't aware that we owe some money until the IRS took over my paycheck, apparently my husband receive the notice but don't bother to tell me about it. So I am not sure if I can rely on him to sort this kind of things out. I just want to know what my obligation to the government in a plain and simple term so that I can pay them. Maybe one of you has been through the same situation as I am (move in to Pittsburgh from different state) and can help. Can anybody tell me what is it that I need to pay if I am working and living in Swissvale, we don't own any property, we have a car, no children, both my husband and I working.
Also where do I find and file all the administrative or taxes ?

Desperately,
-Hasian-
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Old 06-07-2010, 01:14 PM
 
20,273 posts, read 32,859,479 times
Reputation: 2910
Earned Income Tax is the wage tax municipalities and schools districts charge in Pennsylvania--you should be paying a total of 1% in EIT to Swissvale.

I can't be sure without seeing the form, but it sounds like maybe you did have the right one.
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Old 06-07-2010, 02:20 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh area
9,912 posts, read 24,530,389 times
Reputation: 5162
That should be the right thing, assuming PAMS is actually the collector for where you live. I haven't been able to verify that (which doesn't make it wrong, just that in quick searching I didn't find anything that confirms it).

They do make mistakes in mailing out stuff, but it's also possible you didn't receive a form from them because they don't actually collect for your location. Are you 100% certain that a) PAMS is the tax collector for Swissvale and b) you absolutely live within the boundaries of Swissvale? It doesn't always match your mailing address or what people call certain areas. You can check your municipality by putting your street address in on this page: Municipal Statistics Tax Reports

What PAMS (or whoever the tax collector is if not PAMS) would send you is a form. It wouldn't be a "bill" because they don't know how much you are earning because your employer is not withholding this tax from your pay. This is typically the case in PA unless you happen to work in the same municipality in which you live. Of course, if you let it go delinquent, eventually you would get a delinquent notice, which would be like a bill, but that won't happen for months (after they receive your income info from the state).
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Old 06-08-2010, 07:49 AM
 
Location: Hempfield Twp
780 posts, read 1,375,457 times
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Your delinquent notice may not come for years and you don't want to wait until you get that bill. When we moved to Texas for a couple years, North Huntingdon Twp. mistakeningly kept us on the tax roles and we we got billed for Wage Taxes 3 and 4 years after the fact. After a lot of hoop jumping, letter writing and phone calls, we got it all straightened out but it took up at least 30 solid hrs of my time to clear up my wifes and my tax stuff. We didn't owe a dime to them but it was up to us to prove it.
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Old 06-24-2010, 12:01 PM
 
3 posts, read 20,955 times
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Hello,
Thank you all for all the info guys, I really appreciate it.
It seems that I am on the right track now. PAMS is my collector, and yes I am 100% sure my address reside within Swissvale. I finally receive a "FORM" from them, and by looking at the form I now understand what needs to be done on a quarterly basis.

So apparently there is a "State Tax Form" that I should have filled out soon as move in to a new state, in this case PA. I haven't seen this form up to this date, so I don't know what it looks like. But my HR have told me that they will straighten it out.

I feel much better now. (Sigh) I still think the government can do a better job on explaining things on their websites.

Sincerely,
~Hasian
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Old 06-24-2010, 06:21 PM
 
Location: Crafton via San Francisco
3,463 posts, read 4,620,287 times
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You might want to go to a tax preparer who can help you navigate the system.
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Old 06-24-2010, 06:56 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh area
9,912 posts, read 24,530,389 times
Reputation: 5162
The typical state form that you would fill out when starting a new job or in a new state is a withholding exemption form, akin to a federal W-4.

PA does NOT have one of these forms because it's a flat tax. It's not necessary to collect people's exemption status, etc. because the percentage is the same for everyone. So, the HR folks are mistaken on that. Not surprising if they don't often deal with PA.

You just want to make sure that they are withholding and remitting the PA tax from your pay. If they are not doing that, you will need to send quarterly payments to the state in addition to the ones you'll send to Swissvale. If the company does not have an office in PA, they are probably not required to withhold the PA tax from your pay, so you'll just want to confirm which way it's going to be. You don't want to be surprised at the end of the year to find that you owe all the PA tax plus a penalty because the company didn't withhold it after all.

The local tax stuff is just chaos, really. What you experienced is par for the course. When you move into a municipality you just have to get in touch with the local tax collector. I remember when I was renting the town I last lived in required the landlord to send them a form when someone moved in and again when they moved out. I dunno what they do if you buy a place though. And what if my friend moves in with me? Seems like it would be pretty easy in some cases for people to skip out on the local tax. This is all supposed to be consolidated a bit starting in a couple years; eventually it'll probably be like Maryland where the local tax is collected by the state. Until then, the chaos reigns.
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Old 06-25-2010, 07:40 AM
 
20,273 posts, read 32,859,479 times
Reputation: 2910
Even local employers often struggle to navigate the complexities of paying the local wage taxes. It really is a mess.
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Old 07-14-2010, 04:00 PM
 
3 posts, read 20,955 times
Reputation: 10
I realizes that most people have the same issue when dealing with the Tax either federal or state, it's confusing. Yet, once someone explain the whole process in a day to day term, it was not that confusing after all.

Can we (tax payer) do something about it? How do we get them to improve their process and website content?

~Hasian

@greg42: I will clarify the status of my PA Tax on my paycheck to my employer - thx again, your info had been very helpful.
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