Flex Spending Childcare Fund?

[Anonymous]

Worked part-time (15-25 hrs/wk for 5 weeks) with a family over the summer, paid cash weekly. It has been a month since I've completed my job and she just emailed me asking for my SSN for the flex spending childcare fund.. Anyone familiar with this program? She said it isn't for taxes and since I was paid cash, I didn't even deduct taxes to send to IRS.

[Anonymous]

I may not be fully accurate but I believe to qualify for flex spending, the employee must be paid legally. One of the reasons my nanny family only considered nannies who agreed to above table wages was so they could utilize the flex account..

[Anonymous]

I don't think you should be giving out your social at this point, but not 100% sure about what the laws are.

[Anonymous]

You may not have even met the threshold for tax withholding. Was your total pay less than $1700.

We use this program as well. It's a tax benefit for your employers, and has nothing to do with your taxes. If they paid you legally, please do give them the info for the program. They will lose money if you don't. If you are not declaring the income and paying taxes, that's not really their problem. The odds that FSA shares into with IRS is pretty low anyhow, and they will lose money if you don't. I've also
worked with FSA when a daycare declined signing the paperwork and there are ways around it. But it's a real pain, so, if you refuse, you are just going to
annoy them and your income will get reported to FSA regardless. (Ignore this if cash means illegal. They really do have no moral grounds to participate in a tax benefit if they are not paying your taxes legally)

[Anonymous]

DO NOT give them you SSN. If this was something they required while you were their employee, the necessary arrangements should have been made then. Your employment has ended, this family has no business asking you for very personal information, or even contacting you, for any reason anymore. And I think it's safe to assume that if you were paid cash, it was off the books, they can't claim your term of employment for tax benefits if this is the case. Just tell them you are not comfortable sharing that information and move on.

[Anonymous]

*your

[Anonymous]

I am a USA citizen and I always ask are you going to withhold taxes and she said since we only need you short-term over the summer, we'll just pay cash, but it's been 6 weeks since I've worked for them and she's now contacting me..

[Anonymous]

7:12 again

Please don't listen to the crazy posters. If you were paid under the IRS threshold, they did not legally need to withhold. Unless you earned a very high rate, that was likely the case.

It would be a total jerk move to prevent them from getting their money from this program. Research it at www.fsafeds.com .

They cannot file the form until after you finish the job.

[Anonymous]

It was $13/hour for 2 girls

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:7:12 again

Please don't listen to the crazy posters. If you were paid under the IRS threshold, they did not legally need to withhold. Unless you earned a very high rate, that was likely the case.

It would be a total jerk move to prevent them from getting their money from this program. Research it at www.fsafeds.com .

They cannot file the form until after you finish the job.

Please explain why you'd trust anyone with your SS# paying in cash, rather than check??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:7:12 again

Please don't listen to the crazy posters. If you were paid under the IRS threshold, they did not legally need to withhold. Unless you earned a very high rate, that was likely the case.

It would be a total jerk move to prevent them from getting their money from this program. Research it at www.fsafeds.com .

They cannot file the form until after you finish the job.

If this family wanted to take advantage of the tax benefit, they should have made it clear upfront and gotten the required information when OP was still their employee. In no way is it good advice to tell someone to give out their SSN# to anyone arbitrarily, and yes, since it has been months since she has worked for them, this request is absurd. OP is not the jerk here, this family (and frankly you) are.

[Anonymous]

Don't do it OP.

The job is done. If you must explain why in an e-mail.
If anything just email back saying you don't give out your social.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:7:12 again

Please don't listen to the crazy posters. If you were paid under the IRS threshold, they did not legally need to withhold. Unless you earned a very high rate, that was likely the case.

It would be a total jerk move to prevent them from getting their money from this program. Research it at www.fsafeds.com .

They cannot file the form until after you finish the job.

If this family wanted to take advantage of the tax benefit, they should have made it clear upfront and gotten the required information when OP was still their employee. In no way is it good advice to tell someone to give out their SSN# to anyone arbitrarily, and yes, since it has been months since she has worked for them, this request is absurd. OP is not the jerk here, this family (and frankly you) are.

Sorry, but I don't see why every one is advising the OP to try to screw over her former employers, who, to all accounts treated her professionally and fairly.

OP, it's not a matter of trust or not trust. It seems that they treated you professionally. They were not obligated to withhold taxes due to the amounts they paid you. You can refer to the website I referenced to see that your SS # is required for this form. It's a legitimate request ,and I can't see any reason you'd want to screw them out of several hundred dollars. (Not saying you will, but it seems to be a vocal consensus that you should....based on what, I really can't tell)

OP seemed to indicate she just wasn't familiar with the program. I've provided the link to the website. If you have any questions about it, I'd also be happy to answer. If you are a professional child care provider, it would be good form to be familiar with this program, as many people use it. If you are particularly careful with your SS #, you could always ask them to send you the form with everything else completed, fill in your SS# and then fax it in directly. I know I'd find this request a bit odd, but if it was that important to you, I'd certainly do it that way.

[Anonymous]

10:55, you seem more informed about this than most of us here. I have a question maybe you could help with. What obligation does an employer have, to protect my privacy (and your SS#)?

Also, I once had a potential MB *demand* my SS# "to run background checks" before I even knew if I wanted the job.

I really had no assurances with regard to her trustworthiness. They offered me no references on them, even though they had many for me.

What finally made me run, was when they kept demanding my number to run the checks, but refused to give me any form to sign, giving them my permission to do so. They were infuriated that I knew my signature was legally required. These people had to know the laws because of their jobs.

At what point is it prudent to give your personal info to people who you know nothing about, beyond their address?
After you have a detailed written contract offer?
Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:7:12 again

Please don't listen to the crazy posters. If you were paid under the IRS threshold, they did not legally need to withhold. Unless you earned a very high rate, that was likely the case.

It would be a total jerk move to prevent them from getting their money from this program. Research it at www.fsafeds.com .

They cannot file the form until after you finish the job.

If this family wanted to take advantage of the tax benefit, they should have made it clear upfront and gotten the required information when OP was still their employee. In no way is it good advice to tell someone to give out their SSN# to anyone arbitrarily, and yes, since it has been months since she has worked for them, this request is absurd. OP is not the jerk here, this family (and frankly you) are.

Sorry, but I don't see why every one is advising the OP to try to screw over her former employers, who, to all accounts treated her professionally and fairly.

OP, it's not a matter of trust or not trust. It seems that they treated you professionally. They were not obligated to withhold taxes due to the amounts they paid you. You can refer to the website I referenced to see that your SS # is required for this form. It's a legitimate request ,and I can't see any reason you'd want to screw them out of several hundred dollars. (Not saying you will, but it seems to be a vocal consensus that you should....based on what, I really can't tell)

OP seemed to indicate she just wasn't familiar with the program. I've provided the link to the website. If you have any questions about it, I'd also be happy to answer. If you are a professional child care provider, it would be good form to be familiar with this program, as many people use it. If you are particularly careful with your SS #, you could always ask them to send you the form with everything else completed, fill in your SS# and then fax it in directly. I know I'd find this request a bit odd, but if it was that important to you, I'd certainly do it that way.

I actually contacted FSAFEDS, they only contribute towards federal employees so the representative could not tell me much, but that parents can contact them anytime asking for their reimbursement. She also stated that there are multiple flex pay programs and suggested I should ask the mom who emailed and since texted me, about who administers their program to find out if my SSN is required. I am not trying to get over, but the position ended 6 weeks ago.. She ended my position early because she bagan working from home and when they had their vacations 2 weeks out of my 5, I was not paid and there were multiple evenings where I received texts at midnight stating I was not needed the following morning .. So I did not work really more than 15 hrs when I actually worked and the most 25 hours so it was really part-time at $13/hr. So I'm just surprised she's contacting me when I was paid between $200-400/wk for maybe 5-6weeks