Making less income to avoid paying taxes

[Harpy Eagle]

So, a co-worker of my wife has been putting in OT as the VA hospitals are all short nurses and there are always extra shifts. My wife also picks them up from time to time as the pay rate is damn nice.

She was talking with this co-worker and found out he was working for Comp Time instead of OT pay. He said he was doing this as he was tired of paying so much in taxes.

I just do not understand this mindset, while nobody likes paying taxes the idea of "I am not going to make this extra $1000 because the Govt will get $200 of it" makes little sense to me.

 

[pknopp]

I wanted to be able to get comp time as opposed to more money. The company wasn't interested. At some point I wanted the extra time off more than the money.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

I wanted to be able to get comp time as opposed to more money. The company wasn't interested. At some point I wanted the extra time off more than the money.

Yes and no. Depends on your schedule and if you can actually get the days off approved. Sick days are automatic, Comp days have to be approved ahead of time.

A VA nurse works 7 days out of 14 for 80 hours. At the VA here they work a block that goes as such...3 days on, 2 days off, 4 days on, 5 days off. One of the 7 work days is an 8 hour the rest are 12. They get 4 weeks of leave a year and 13 sick days. My wife took 6 weeks of Sick Leave when she had surgery last fall and did not even use all her accumulated leave. It is one of the things the VA/Fed Govt does right.

They work their asses off, but get a good amount of time off.

 

[1srelluc]

When I worked for the state we had to use up our comp time before the end of the month.....We seldom got to use it. It was not paid out at the OT rate either but paid out in "straight time".

I believe the state ran into a lawsuit around it but I'm unsure of the outcome because I had retired.

 

[JGalt]

So, a co-worker of my wife has been putting in OT as the VA hospitals are all short nurses and there are always extra shifts. My wife also picks them up from time to time as the pay rate is damn nice.

She was talking with this co-worker and found out he was working for Comp Time instead of OT pay. He said he was doing this as he was tired of paying so much in taxes.

I just do not understand this mindset, while nobody likes paying taxes the idea of "I am not going to make this extra $1000 because the Govt will get $200 of it" makes little sense to me.

Taxation is theft. It's every patriotic American's duty to pay as little to the federal government as possible.

 

[Votto]

So, a co-worker of my wife has been putting in OT as the VA hospitals are all short nurses and there are always extra shifts. My wife also picks them up from time to time as the pay rate is damn nice.

She was talking with this co-worker and found out he was working for Comp Time instead of OT pay. He said he was doing this as he was tired of paying so much in taxes.

I just do not understand this mindset, while nobody likes paying taxes the idea of "I am not going to make this extra $1000 because the Govt will get $200 of it" makes little sense to me.

It is rising taxation, as the Trump exemptions will soon go away for everyone, in addition to rising inflation.

It just makes less sense to work overall and at some point it will make no sense to work as both taxation and inflation get worse.

 

[Anathema]

I think it really depends on what you value more, the time off or the 1.5x standard pay hours. My union contract doesn’t allow for compensating time off, but I can defer most holidays if I want, and work in lieu of 8 hours of Deferred Holiday PTO.

Personally, I love my free time. I value it very highly. Far above the almost $70 an hour I make on OT. That’s part of why I work a 4-10 hour day schedule. I have a 3 day weekend every weekend (unless there’s a holiday in that week). I would love to be able to get Compensating Time instead of OT most of the time I work it.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

Taxation is theft. It's every patriotic American's duty to pay as little to the federal government as possible.

Then we should all take minimum wage jobs and never pay any....great fricking plan.

I hate paying taxes as much as the next guy, but I am not going to not gain an extra 1k to avoid 200 bucks in taxes on it. I still come out 800 ahead.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

I think it really depends on what you value more, the time off or the 1.5x standard pay hours. My union contract doesn’t allow for compensating time off, but I can defer most holidays if I want, and work in lieu of 8 hours of Deferred Holiday PTO.

Personally, I love my free time. I value it very highly. Far above the almost $70 an hour I make on OT. That’s part of why I work a 4-10 hour day schedule. I have a 3 day weekend every weekend (unless there’s a holiday in that week). I would love to be able to get Compensating Time instead of OT most of the time I work it.

Or how much time off you are already getting. For this nurse I think the only way they could use their Comp Time would be to use it when they are on approved leave and save their annual leave days. A normal Fed Employee can only have 240 hours accumulated at the end of the CY or they lose anything beyond that. For those in jobs like a Nurse where days off are harder to get approved they are allowed to have 680 before they lose any. My wife and I are already working on the plan to have that close to maxed out when she retires and can sell it back. That is like 2.5 months worth of pay given in a lumpsum.

 

[DGS49]

It is shocking when you earn extra money and see how much of it is taken up in taxes. There is not only the Federal bite, but also FICA, State, and local taxes. You are lucky if you end up with half of the additional amount. Still, more money is more money. Which do you value more, time off or cash?

 

[Harpy Eagle]

It is shocking when you earn extra money and see how much of it is taken up in taxes. There is not only the Federal bite, but also FICA, State, and local taxes. You are lucky if you end up with half of the additional amount. Still, more money is more money. Which do you value more, time off or cash?

For me right now it is cash as I work from home and have a flexible schedule where most days I could be working at 6am or 9pm or whenever I want.

 

[Anathema]

Or how much time off you are already getting. For this nurse I think the only way they could use their Comp Time would be to use it when they are on approved leave and save their annual leave days. A normal Fed Employee can only have 240 hours accumulated at the end of the CY or they lose anything beyond that. For those in jobs like a Nurse where days off are harder to get approved they are allowed to have 680 before they lose any. My wife and I are already working on the plan to have that close to maxed out when she retires and can sell it back. That is like 2.5 months worth of pay given in a lumpsum

A lot of it depends on the specific situation. We cannot carry over any PTO and do not get compensation if we don’t take it. Use it or lose it.

After 18 years with my employer I have 160 hours of vacation time, 40 hours of earned sick leave, 16 hours of floating holiday, 11 paid holidays, and 19 weeks of short term disability each year. I also purchase an additional 40 hours of vacation time.

Thankfully my manager allows us to use our vacation, floating holiday, and earned sick leave however we want, so long as we inform our supervisor and log it on the team calendar.,

 

[Andylusion]

Or how much time off you are already getting. For this nurse I think the only way they could use their Comp Time would be to use it when they are on approved leave and save their annual leave days. A normal Fed Employee can only have 240 hours accumulated at the end of the CY or they lose anything beyond that. For those in jobs like a Nurse where days off are harder to get approved they are allowed to have 680 before they lose any. My wife and I are already working on the plan to have that close to maxed out when she retires and can sell it back. That is like 2.5 months worth of pay given in a lumpsum.

Yeah, I agree. That's what you should do.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

A lot of it depends on the specific situation. We cannot carry over any PTO and do not get compensation if we don’t take it. Use it or lose it.

After 18 years with my employer I have 160 hours of vacation time, 40 hours of earned sick leave, 16 hours of floating holiday, 11 paid holidays, and 19 weeks of short term disability each year. I also purchase an additional 40 hours of vacation time.

Thankfully my manager allows us to use our vacation, floating holiday, and earned sick leave however we want, so long as we inform our supervisor and log it on the team calendar.,

My job is much the same, but my wife's, being nurses at a hospital is not that way for obvious reasons.

 

[WorldWatcher]

I wanted to be able to get comp time as opposed to more money. The company wasn't interested. At some point I wanted the extra time off more than the money.

It would have been illegal for the company.

Comp Time (CT) in liee of Over Time (OT) is only available under the FLSA to Public Sector employees.

WW

 

[pknopp]

It would have been illegal for the company.

Comp Time (CT) in liee of Over Time (OT) is only available under the FLSA to Public Sector employees.

WW

Supervision got comp time if they wanted it.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

It would have been illegal for the company.

Comp Time (CT) in liee of Over Time (OT) is only available under the FLSA to Public Sector employees.

WW

Public Sector employees over a certain GS level do not get a choice, it is Comp time if they work extra. no OT offered.

 

[sparky]

I just do not understand this mindset,

It'll hit you like a brick if you have a banner year as a sm biz Harpy.....~S~

 

[Harpy Eagle]

It'll hit you like a brick if you have a banner year as a sm biz Harpy.....~S~

I do enjoy your drunk postings this early in the morning.

 

[WorldWatcher]

So, a co-worker of my wife has been putting in OT as the VA hospitals are all short nurses and there are always extra shifts. My wife also picks them up from time to time as the pay rate is damn nice.

She was talking with this co-worker and found out he was working for Comp Time instead of OT pay. He said he was doing this as he was tired of paying so much in taxes.

I just do not understand this mindset, while nobody likes paying taxes the idea of "I am not going to make this extra $1000 because the Govt will get $200 of it" makes little sense to me.

Just a couple of items:

#1 CT is not available in the private sector in lieu of OT. It allows for the public sector to have better budgetary control.

#2 A Public Sector entity is not required to have CT they can choose to allow it or not as long they adopt and follow a consistent policy.

#3 CT has to be carried as a liability on the books, meaning that their Time/Labor system and payroll have to track it. At some point the employee must be paid or allowed to take the CT so it is not uncommon to have time limits. If the CT is not used within certain time frames then the OT is paid. CT cannot normally be "banked" indefinitely.

#4 If an organization has CT, it must allow the same amount of time off as OT pay rate. Meaning for 1 hour of OT, CT is required to allow for 1.5 hours.
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Finally a twist... Harpy Eagle and/or your wife's co-worker...

#5 In smaller entities this may be easier, but think about contacting HR/Payroll and trying to arrange for CT to be paid directly into their 403B (Public Section equivalent of a 401K) up to the maximum annual contribution limits.

• You can either do this directly with payroll (which is why with smaller entities this can be easier), or
• Adjust 403B/401K deduction to account for the OT on your own through the normal deduction adjustment process. "Tweaking" your deductions up when needed and then return them to normal.

The nice thing is that annual earning increases for pensions and Social Security, but by funneling as much CT into your 403B/401K now as possible means you avoiding paying income taxes (federal and state) now on the additional income. However over the long term it results in slightly higher pension and social security payments in retirement and increases the size of personal Defined Contribution retirement savings for later in life.

WW