I am not yet legal. I do not have my ARC yet, but I have been working for 6 weeks on my visitor visa which I realize is illegal. My boss is about to pay me tonight for my hours worked.
I have been informed that because I am not yet legal there is no possible way for the government to tax me, but she insists that because public schools take taxes off the money they give to her to have me teach, she will take money off of me.
Also, she insists this, but I also only teach 5 hours a week at public school and the rest of the week I work for her bshbain. Is she legally able to tax me, before I have my ARC? Doesn’t it just go into her pocket then, because I do not have a number or any paper work to prove I am here working at all.
What about teachers working under student visas? They are to be taxed or not, because they are illegally working in the first place!
In years past, people often worked illegally but still had to pay tax. As mentioned in other threads, the tax office doesn’t communicate with immigration.
Even if you are not employed legally, your employer will probably want to deduct taxes (20%) and file them properly with the tax authorities. Really, it’s a legitimate business expense for them and they should be able to deduct it. All of my previous employers actually tacked the tax on top of my regular pay, so they in effect paid my taxes for me. However, they also usually under-reported my salary. Go figure.
If they are deducting your taxes at 20% and you are here less than 6 months (183 days), you won’t get any back. If you are here more than 6 months, you are eligible for a lower tax rate and can get a refund of part of the taxes paid.
Then again, your employer may be just scamming you and pocketing the tax. That never happened to me, but it wouldn’t surprise me, either. I would ask for the documentation of your withholdings.
If you get the tax withholding certificate and it gets registered on the tax office’s computer then she’s not scamming you. So ask for the withholding certificate.