My employer never asked me to fill out a w4

Question

I have been working for the Same employer for almost a year now. I have never been given a w4 to fill out for tax purposes, instead he asked me to fill out a I9. I was under the impression that the I9 form is used for private contractors, meaning I will have to pay taxes at the end of the year but he has been withholding taxes from my checks this whole time. Should I fill out a w4 anyways and give it to him? Or

Answer 1

Should I fill out a w4 anyways and give it to him?

Yes.

The W4 just determines how much should be withheld from each paycheck for taxes. It won't matter for 2016, but might for 2017.

For 2016, the employer already withheld at some rate, which you can determine from your pay stubs or from your W2 when you get it. If too much was withheld, you'll get a refund. If too little was withheld, you'll owe some taxes.

(This has nothing to do with an I9 form.)

Answer 2

You don't mention a country, but I bet you can ask your tax office whether income taxes have been paid on your behalf.

In many countries the situation will be like this: If you are an employee, and the employer doesn't pay your income tax to the tax office, the employer is in deep shit as soon as the tax office finds out. It can get the company closed down, and/or makes the employer personally liable for payment. If you are a contractor, and the employer lied to you about having a higher salary with tax deducted when he really is paying you a lower salary, that's just plain fraud.

Answer 3

The i9 form is not a tax form. It is use for Employment Eligibility Verification and it is used by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Form I-9 is used for verifying the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired for employment in the United States. All U.S. employers must ensure proper completion of Form I-9 for each individual they hire for employment in the United States. This includes citizens and noncitizens. Both employees and employers (or authorized representatives of the employer) must complete the form. On the form, an employee must attest to his or her employment authorization. The employee must also present his or her employer with acceptable documents evidencing identity and employment authorization. The employer must examine the employment eligibility and identity document(s) an employee presents to determine whether the document(s) reasonably appear to be genuine and to relate to the employee and record the document information on the Form I-9. The list of acceptable documents can be found on the last page of the form. Employers must retain Form I-9 for a designated period and make it available for inspection by authorized government officers. NOTE: State agencies may use Form I-9. Also, some agricultural recruiters and referrers for a fee may be required to use Form I-9.

that is different from the w-9 tax form

Form W-9, Request for Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) and Certification

Use this form to provide your correct TIN to the person who is required to file an information return with the IRS to report, for example, income paid to you, real estate transactions, mortgage interest you paid, acquisition or abandonment of secured property, cancellation of debt, or contributions you made to an IRA.

The fact that they have been withholding taxes tells you that you are an employee and not a contractor.

The paycheck stubs should tell you single/married and number of exemptions. You can submit to payroll or HR an updated Federal or state W-4 at any time. So just download the forms and submit them. Or contact payroll/HR to see if they have an electronic way of doing so.