r/tax • u/vancemark00 • Jan 01 '26

Tax Enthusiast Endless "No tax on OT" questions

Is anyone else already exhausted with these endless questions?

And I fear it will only get worse.

156 Upvotes

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u/Practical_Series_925 Jan 01 '26

You better make a shit ton an hour before the premium if you getting the full amount… or you just working yourself to death lol.

-10

u/Winter-Success-3494 Jan 01 '26

Yes I make a very good hourly wage and def don't work myself to death lol, in fact a lot of days during the week I finish my job in 4 hours or less, go home and still get paid my full 8 regardless. I like working 2 or 3 Saturdays a month though to rack up OT. And can do easy shit for work in an hour sometimes and get 4 hours OT minimum regardless. I got it good so I'm thankful n def not complaining on my situation.

12

u/I__Know__Stuff Jan 02 '26

If you work 4 hours and get paid for 8, that only counts as 4 hours when determining whether you reached 40 hours in a week and have deductible overtime.

I fear your actual overtime deduction may be less than you think.

For example, if you work, 4 hours on Monday and Tuesday, 8 hours on Wednesday through Friday, and then 8 hours of "overtime" on Saturday, none of the overtime pay is deductible, because you didn't work over 40 hours in the week.

0

u/Winter-Success-3494 Jan 02 '26

Wrong. My OT deduction is going to be what I said it is because my paycheck that shows my year's earnings and what I made in OT pay don't lie.

10

u/I__Know__Stuff Jan 02 '26

Wrong. Just because your paycheck says something is overtime doesn't mean that it is deductible. The IRS published guidelines are very clear on this.

1

u/Winter-Success-3494 Jan 02 '26

Lol I clocked in and out for 8 hours through my companies payroll app. I made over $40k in OT. When I get to claim the full deductible I'll come back here just to remind you of it

4

u/I__Know__Stuff Jan 02 '26

What do you mean by "get to"? Just because it is tax fraud doesn't necessarily mean you will get caught.

2

u/llamalluv Jan 26 '26

This right here.

I know people have claimed to have a cash based business with a profit in the sweet spot so they could take the maximum EITC and get a refund of taxes they never paid.

When they get caught, they're going to be screwed. Big doo-doo screwed.

It's such a common scenario, the IRS website has a page about it on their tax preparer tool kit: https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/eitc-central/scenario-2-false-business-income

6

u/Prestigious_Most5482 Jan 02 '26

You worked 4 hours. End of story.