Dougster75

I won't go into too much detail but a friend of a friend of mine needs to know whether tax issues with the IRS can affect immigration status (currently on L1 and looking to apply for GC). This question is purely related to the effect that a tax problem could have on visa status and not the tax itself.

This isn't the exact situation and so please don't get bogged down in whether or not he should be paying that tax (as it is clear that he should). But for example, if his company pays him a bonus amount net of taxes saying that he doesn't need to pay taxes on a bonus and he relies on that and then later he gets accused of tax evasion, is it likely that that would cause visa problems or are the IRS and USCIS completely separate bodies that aren't likely to affect one another?

NB the friend is not accepting the company's advice but wants ammo to argue with the company.

He looks forward to any help or opinions.

Thanks,

Doug.

ian-mstm

Yes, it can - not immediately, but most likely when it's time to renew the visa.


If he chooses not to pay the tax, then he's an idiot - because he must pay taxes on income *IF* the company doesn't deduct them ahead of time. The IRS isn't going to care who said what - the onus is on the *employee* to pay tax on income. Whether the employer deduct the tax up front or not doesn't enter into the equation. Even if the company gives bad advice such as "don't pay tax on the bonus", it still comes back to the employee.

Ian

JAJ

He should expect to see a grossed up amount, together with a tax deduction to arrive at the "net" amount on his paystub and tax statement (from employer).

If he sees this, it's ok. If not, there will be a problem.

meauxna

Employers don't 'pay' employees' taxes, they withhold the appropriate amount of tax based on the employees' declarations on the W-4.

The bonus situation could be described more clearly here....

Dougster75

Thanks. Wanted to avoid getting into too much detail as the question is not whether or not the tax is due. He agrees it is. His further concern is whether it would impact his visa status if he did the dumb thing and didn't/couldn't pay the tax and it was later discovered that it should have been paid. Here's the deal:

• It was a signing on bonus for moving over to the US from UK subsidiary to US parent - bonus was payable under US contract.
• The employee arrived in the US and needed the bonus immediately to pay for cars/deposits etc. etc.
• The US company's system apparently could not (despite argument to the contrary) pay the guy without a SSN and they would not use a dummy SSN.
• So the UK subsidiary loaned an amount by wire transfer to the employee (already in the US and working for the US parent) which was the bonus less the estimated US taxes on that bonus.
• No tax was paid in the UK.
• The employee has discovered that the US parent did not withhold any tax in respect of this and did not process the gross number through payroll.
• US parent advises that it will not show up on W-2 and believes that because it was paid from the UK subsidiary that no US tax is due.
• Employee believes this to be utter nonsense as the loan is irrelevant to the duty to pay tax on the income.
• Employee is arguing that the firm either needs to process the full amount through payroll (deducting the amount advanced) or pay the remainder to the employee so that they can pay it to the taxman when taxes become due.
• The employee knows that the tax is due and will resolve it but wants to back up the argument to the company by adding any threat to visa status that may arise if the tax complication was overlooked and later discovered.

Appreciate any thoughts.

Doug.

ian-mstm

Yes.

Ian