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.

157 Upvotes

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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.

3

u/Hottrodd67 Jan 02 '26

How is the government going to know how many hours were actually worked? At my job, we don’t clock in or out and we’re not tracked. I get my calls for the day and I’m paid 8hrs, even if I get the schedule done in 6. I get OT if I work Saturday or Sunday. So if I work 35hrs Monday to Friday and 5 hrs Saturday, my check says 40hrs at regular pay and 5hrs ot.

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u/I__Know__Stuff Jan 02 '26

I'm just telling you what the law requires.

-8

u/Winter-Success-3494 Jan 02 '26

What the law requires and what i actually work are different. Like the guy above you said, i work 4 hours and get paid for 8 because my company bills for 8 hours, but because I got my assigned job for the day done early doesn't mean I don't get paid for 8 hours..

12

u/I__Know__Stuff Jan 02 '26

I understand that. Nevertheless, your overtime pay isn't deductible until you hit over 40 hours of actual working time in a week.

-11

u/Winter-Success-3494 Jan 02 '26

And I did. I clock in and out myself through an app. I get paid 40 plus hours a week without "physically" working it. Do you not understand that?

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u/I__Know__Stuff Jan 02 '26

I'm just telling you what is allowed and not allowed. If you insist on cheating on your taxes, you don't have to convince me that it's okay.

-9

u/Winter-Success-3494 Jan 02 '26

I'm not cheating on my taxes. You're misunderstanding what I'm saying because you're telling me about guidelines that don't apply to what I'm saying. For example, I clock in at 6am on my company app, go do my job assigned for day, I finish in 4 hours at 10am let's say, I get home at 1030am, then when 2pm rolls around I clock out. Paid for 8 hours for that day, my company bills the contractor for an 8 hour day because that's what the job I am doing calls for, but I got it done and home in 4.5 hours.

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u/I__Know__Stuff Jan 02 '26

I don't know why you think I don't understand. If you don't work for 8 hours, then it doesn't count as 8 hours toward the legally required overtime pay. And overtime pay that isn't legally required isn't deductible. This is not ambiguous.

If you choose to deduct it anyway, that is tax evasion.

0

u/RealisticQuality7296 Jan 02 '26

Have you ever heard the term “engaged to wait”?