I owe 700 dollars to the IRS. Here's my excuse.
 

I was only 16 years old when I was hired by Shoppers Food Warehouse. At this point, I was not yet making enough money to file taxes, so I had not filled out the W-4s and such to get the IRS to take money out of my paychecks. Not a big deal.

Here's the problem. 17 years old rolls around, I decide I'm going to file for the year 2003 - so I ask my manager for the papers so that they can start taking taxes out. Under his counsel, I filled out a federal W-4 form. I claimed 1 because of the line "If you are single..." - I'm not married.

So, all is fine and dandy. Until I get my w-2 form in January and fill out an eFile. Apparently I owe 122 dollars to federal (this is understandable - I claimed 1 exemption), and 570 dollars to the state.

Now, 570 dollars is a lot of money for me to owe, because I only made 9,500 dollars the entire year of 2003. I'm only 18 years old, and I still live with my parents. I did some investigation, and apparently there is a state form you must fill out for them to take state taxes out (since I filled out no form, technically I was claiming full exemption, thus they took out no state taxes at all).

Hrm. Funny, because I asked my manager for the forms so that the government to take out taxes. I was 17 and filled out the W-4 under his counsel. I never saw nor heard mention of a state form.

So, basically what I'm asking is - I am responsible for this? Do I have to shell out the 500 odd dollars for state taxes, or is there some kind of liability my employer has since I was a minor and filled it out under his counsel?

Honestly, I'd say yes - you probably do have to pay. The IRS can say that since you're a minor, you should have consulted with your parents about it and checked to ensure that all of the proper paperwork was filed.

This happened to my parents. My dads company made a mistake and didn't take out enough Federal tax and when things caught up they got penalized HUGE.

Basically the gov't and my dads company both said that he should have been paying more attention. So they paid. And paid... and paid some more.

I've never lived ina State with an income tax so, I may be wrong, but can't you itemize some of your State taxes off of your Federal taxes?

Probably not, but....

well the 500 follars your owing you would have paid anyways... youd pay it over a month... pssht i get more then that taken off of each of my paychecks and im only 19

I've moved this thread here from GD because it seems so much more at home here. :D

I don't know what state you live in, and as all states vary in their taxation laws, it's kind of hard to do much more than commiserate with you. $570.00 seems a little high on earnings of only $9500.00, though. But again, we're flying blind here.

I think you are definately liable. Ignorance of the laws is no excuse.