I won some more stuff at work (A rant)

OK, so I earned/won some bonuses at work recently.

1. $400 in Best Buy giftcards
2. $425 dollars worth of stuff from this rewards type website.

Sounds pretty great.
However I just found out today that my "free" giftcards will actually cost me $21 each because the company that ships them charges $21 per card to ship. So basically I have to pay $84 bucks to receive my $400... Errr... Ok, that's lame, but whatever.

Then I find out that even though giftcards aren't taxable in WA state, I have to pay 32% tax on them because they're reported to the IRS as earned income at a commission rate. But that's not all! I don't pay 32% tax on the 400... oh no. I pay 32% tax on the total of $484!

SWEET! For those of you keeping score that means that so far my $400 in giftcards has cost me $154.88 in tax and $84 in fee's for a total of $238.88.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!
In WA state you also pay roughly 8.5% sales tax when you use a gift card, so spending my giftcards will cost me another $34 in sales tax. BADASS! I actually get to be taxed twice!

So my awesome $400 in gift cards actually costs me $272.88 out of pocket to use which means I only really get $127.12 in actual value. Fucking. Lame.

Now my other reward. $425. Sweet So I look on the site and there's a ton of stuff, but I notice that they have the Playstation Vita available.

Wi-Fi version and it comes with 2 game (although it doesn't say what the 2 games are) for a grand total of $477.00... roughly $147 more than actual MSRP. Ok, Whatever. I pick it and it says "this item is $49 to ship". HOLY SHIT! Well I've got to use this "reward" on something so I might as well get it.

Next page: Tax. 32% on the total.
That's another $168.32 in fucking tax.
A grand total of $694.32 for something that would cost me $330 + tax at Best Buy. So after my $425 in credit I've still actually spent $269.32 of my own money.

My $425 was actually only really saved me $60.68 + sales tax.

FUCK. ME.

So my total winnings of $825, after taxes, fees and shipping was really only worth...
$187.80.
23 cents on the fucking dollar. What a fucking ream job...


Another dude got it worse though. He got some tickets for a free night at some hotel. After tax, fees,getting fucked each ticket cost just over $100.00. The kicker is that each ticket is only good for a $74 per night room. HA! He actually loses $26 bucks per ticket that he uses. How fucked is that.

Pissed fucking off. That is all.

I would've told them to keep their shit. Fuck that.

Twilight Sparkula wrote:I would've told them to keep their shit. Fuck that.

Not much of a choice.
The $400+ in taxes and fees will be pulled out of my paycheck automatically before I can even use the reward part.

Metalzoic wrote:

Twilight Sparkula wrote:I would've told them to keep their shit. Fuck that.

Not much of a choice.
The $400+ in taxes and fees will be pulled out of my paycheck automatically before I can even use the reward part.

What the fuck? Seriously, fuck that.

wow what a bunch of bullshit....if it was gonna be like that,I wouldn't even play to win anymore.

that's crazy man.tax is only 8% here

damn can they do that?

sounds rediculous

Wow that is beyond fucking gay Metal.

Sorry to hear that man. Kind of glad my work doesn't do shit like that. Last time they tried, people who won things had to go through something similar. They said no, higher up bosses took it then. Somehow managed to supposedly do it tax free, but if regular workers won it, we would have had to pay taxes. It's times like that that I can't wait for my bosses to retire.

Frostbyrn wrote:How the fuck does it take 21$ to ship a card and cant they bundle that shit up

They are literally fucking cards

That+

Wtf is up with this 32% tax? We aren't the 1%. And getting taxed on prizes? Seems kinda backwards to me.

Wow, just wow. I can't even imagine my rage if that were me. Imagine that guy with the hotel tickets, winning a prize that still costs you more than its worth. Basically winning a mandatory night in a hotel and a $23 bill.

ok thats just messed up dude. But hell, at least you're actually getting something. 130$ is still 130$.

darn.

Federal tax on bonus or commission is roughly 32% right off the top. Totally different than a state sales tax.

While these are actually prizes the federal government taxes them as earned income at the commission/bonus rate (same as if you won it at a casino or won a lottery).

Effin' stupid.

That I understand. What sucks is.

1. The $21 charge per giftcard that I have to pay tax on.
2. That I'm taxed twice on the giftcards.
3. That the Vita and shipping are massively overpriced.

Oh well.

Yeah, the guy with the hotel tickets is flamin' angry.
Next week they're giving away a ton of ipad 2's. The guys in the office are joking that since I usually win everything I'll probably win them all and go bankrupt trying to pay the tax on them.

Honestly I'll be shocked If I don't win at least one of them.

What i don't understand is that if this is a prize shouldn't the one handing them out pay all the shipping and taxes and shit? I'd imagine they'd already have everything together, you work for weird people metal.

Wraith wrote:ok thats just messed up dude. But hell, at least you're actually getting something. 130$ is still 130$.

not if he's paying $200 for it

chunckylover53 wrote:What i don't understand is that if this is a prize shouldn't the one handing them out pay all the shipping and taxes and shit? I'd imagine they'd already have everything together, you work for weird people metal.

Yes, but the actual prize in this case is provided by an outside company. They're the ones that add on the extra fee's and they're the ones that have the prices jacked up all crazy on items and shipping. So it's really this outside company that specializes in providing this service to huge companies and they've gotten it down to a science in squeezing every dime out of it.

We need to fire their asses.

My company sucks in that they don't pay the tax for you. My previous employer paid your tax on any prizes.

Where do you work, man?

Something sounds fishy...

In Canada, well... Alberta anyway, if the "bonus" is under 500$ and is in Gift cards then the employer doesn't have to claim it under your salary. Effectively making it tax free. What it sounds like is that you're getting taxed on the cards as if it was income (added to your paycheck) which means yea, if you're in the 32% tax bracket then bam, you fucked. It works that way because your employer has to also claim that amount on your T4. I'd first find out what the legal "gift" amount is without paying taxes. I'd imagine you're under that amount and wouldn't have to pay tax on it cause neither would your employer. They would claim it under an expense instead of part of your salary, thus saving them money. Do some searching then hit the big red "fuck-this-shit" button

Shipping and Handling sounds fishy though, 21$ per card?

And Washington has to pay extra tax for using gift cards?? Wha? it's the same as CASH. Which begs the question, if you have to pay more to use a card why would ANYONE in washington use a gift card? The answer is you wouldn't. Something is super wrong here my friend.