This one is a OneForce check from early August. Can you make these deductions add up?
Please click the image to enlarge:
[Hat Tip: A Postville resident with a digital camera.]
UPDATE 3-19-08 3:30 PM CDT –– The Other DK writes via email:
They're running [the 120 "bonus"] through as a contra deduction, so he's not getting cheated (at least not on that item), but....
By running through that way, they're not paying Social Security or Medicare taxes.
I recalculated the Social Security or Medicare taxes just now. They are calculated on a base of $290.
If challenged, One Force would probably claim that the lodging is provided "for the convenience of the employer and as a condition of employment". 26 USC 119.
Treasury Regulation Section 1.119-1(b) provides the standards for excluding lodging from income. From a quick reading:
If the employer furnishes the employee lodging for which the employee is charged an unvarying amount irrespective of whether he accepts the lodging, the amount of the charge made by the employer for such lodging is not, as such, part of the compensation includible in the gross income of the employee; whether the value of the lodging is excludable from gross income under section 119 is determined by applying the other rules of this paragraph. If the tests described in subparagraph (1), (2), and (3) of this paragraph are not met, the employee shall include in gross income the value of the lodging regardless of whether it exceeds or is less than the amount charged. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, the value of the lodging may be deemed to be equal to the amount charged.
Subparagraph (1) talks about the lodging being on the business premises of the employer.
So, it may be that the amount may not be compensation (no payroll taxes) but still may have to be reported as income by the poor chump.
Slick? Disgusting!!!!!
Who do you know in the IRS?
This would explain why employees stay in OneForce housing. It also explains why OneForce charges so much per week.
I hope the EEOC, IRS and Iowa Department of Labor investigate this.