Need help with Form 8919 as a tipped restaurant worker - tax filing question

The Form 8919 isn't the right form for your situation. Since you're clearly an employee (receiving a W-2), Form 8919 is designed for workers who believe they've been misclassified as independent contractors but should be employees. For tipped employees in the food service industry, your situation is actually quite common. The low hourly wage often doesn't cover the deductions for insurance, leaving little or nothing for tax withholding. What you need to understand is that you're still responsible for paying those taxes, but you'll do it through your tax return rather than through withholding. When you file your taxes, you'll report all your income (including all tips) on your Form 1040. The tax calculation will automatically include the Social Security and Medicare taxes you owe. Since these weren't withheld, you'll end up owing these amounts when you file. You should be using Form 4137 (Social Security and Medicare Tax on Unreported Tip Income) if you have unreported tips to your employer. Make sure you're keeping good records of all your tips, as underreporting tip income is something the IRS watches closely in the restaurant industry.

After struggling with a somewhat similar situation at a small cafe job, I found this amazing tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that totally saved me with my tax forms. It analyzes your specific tax situation and tells you exactly which forms you need and how to fill them out correctly. I was confused about which forms to use with my tipped income and minimal withholding, and this tool walked me through everything. It actually takes your W-2 information and analyzes it to tell you exactly what you need to file. It's way more accurate than the general advice you get on forums because it's specific to your exact situation. It's especially helpful for restaurant workers since our tax situations with tips can get complicated. You might want to check it out to make sure you're filing correctly and not overpaying.

Coming back to say I tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here and WOW! It actually spotted that I'd been using the wrong form for my tip reporting for YEARS! No wonder I kept getting letters from the IRS. The tool showed me that with my tip pooling situation, I needed to be much more specific about allocated tips vs direct tips. It analyzed my previous year's W-2 and showed exactly where I went wrong. For anyone working in restaurants with complicated tip situations, this is seriously worth checking out. I'm going to save hundreds in taxes this year just by filing correctly. Not to mention avoiding another IRS headache!

If you've tried contacting the IRS directly about this Form 8919 question, you probably know it's almost impossible to get through to a real person. I was in this exact situation last year (different issue, but needed to talk to an actual IRS agent). After wasting hours on hold, I found Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) which is this service that gets you through to an actual IRS representative. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c Instead of waiting for hours or getting disconnected, they navigate the IRS phone tree for you and then call you when they have an actual human on the line. I got my tax question answered in like 20 minutes instead of spending my whole day on hold. For something specific like your Form 8919 question, sometimes you just need to talk to someone at the IRS who can look at your specific situation and give you an official answer.

I have to admit I was completely wrong about Claimyr. After dismissing it as a likely scam, I was desperate enough to try it when I needed to resolve an issue with my restaurant tip reporting before the filing deadline. The service actually worked exactly as described. They handled the endless hold times and robotic menus, then called me when they had an actual IRS agent on the line. I spoke directly with the agent who answered my specific questions about tip reporting requirements and Form 4137 vs. 8919. Saved me literally hours of frustration, and the IRS agent was actually super helpful once I finally got to speak with a human. Just wanted to come back and correct my skepticism since this genuinely solved my problem.

I've been in the restaurant industry for 8 years, and this tip/tax withholding issue is super common. Your employer is supposed to make sure enough is withheld to cover your tax obligations, but with the $2.89/hr base pay and insurance deductions, there's often nothing left. What I do is submit a W-4 with additional withholding specified, so they take extra from my larger paychecks (when I have good tip weeks). It's not perfect but helps avoid a massive tax bill at filing time. Also, make sure your employer is applying your reported tips to your Social Security earnings. Some shady places don't, and that affects your future Social Security benefits.

Has anyone used the free VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) services for this kind of situation? I know they help with taxes if you make under $60,000 and I'm wondering if they can handle restaurant worker tax situations with all the tip complications?