How do YOU handle illegal, incorrect requests at work?

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For example, I was told to fill out a certain form for tax purposes, yet I know from research, talking to accountants, the tax authority, etc. that it is the incorrect form to fill out. By the way, if anything happens, it won't be me that made the mistake, but probably the company that had me fill it out that will get in trouble. Yet it seems I can't just fill out something that is wrong. This is not in the US, so no worry about the IRS coming after them...but instead a different tax agency.

It truly caused me to be completely overwhelmed and eventually I was so worn out after trying to nicely explain what I knew, show proof, etc...that my mind shut down and I was asleep by 6PM. Worn out completely.

This was day one of a job...sigh...how am I supposed to handle such things?

Was the company set to benefit from the use of the incorrect form (as in reducing the amount of tax they pay) or was it a more innocent mistake?

Can you cover your self by telling your boss (email to create a record of your communication) telling them that you have filled in the form they requested, but that you think that a IR-XXX should have been filled in instead?

on things like this i tend to be very rule oriented- probably to a fault. i simply tell them it is against the rules and that i would be happy to do it correctly for them. If they want to do it wrong they can. I would always tell a supervisor as well. sorry if this doesn't really help much

Thanks to both. Still trying to figure out how to handle it. Geez, I start my job tomorrow and I am already having issues...sigh...I was supposed to talk to an accountant this weekend, but he disappeared (went out of town with his family and never answered my calls...argh!), so tomorrow I will check and see what else I can do. It truly is stressing me out because they do not seem to care.

PS - they would actually have MORE taxes to pay, however, because the tax authority here is SO FAR BEHIND on audits, usually by the time they catch someone the statute of limitations has passed and nothing happens...especially to companies...sigh...

My answer is that I don't handle such things very well, at all. It is why I am so stressed lately.

I'm kinda scared to talk about it on here.

we arn't exactly social devious creatures like most people climbing the corperate ladder. My suggestion is that you get the request in writing. Then i would go to the boss or higher up and just say "hey, i just wanted to double check with you, this person wanted me to fill out this form, i'm pretty sure its not the right form and might even be illegal, and i just wanted to make sure so that i can cover all of our butts."

That tells them your not being not just being diffacult, but your watching out for your boss. they may still have you fill out the form, in that case do it. If anyone has problems you have a writen request and you went to the boss and notified them. Nothing wrong with says "i went to my boss, who had more expierence in this matter and asked him, he said it was legal and we where suppose to do it, so i listened to his expierence". I can't see that ever coming back to bite you.

That's kind of a key aspect, whether it can come back and bite you or not (and I guess, how big the lie, to what extent, or ... cough, cough ... excuse me, how big the official fiction).

Now, specifically, if the company is trying to classify you as an indepedent contractor when you really should be classified as an employee, that can come back to bite both the company and you in a sense. You have to pay income tax on this money of course and also both the employee and employer halves of social security (using Schedule SE in the United States).

And I do know from your first post, this is not having to do with the IRS. Now, to the broader question of why people don't have the patience to try and get something right but instead just kind of guess at an answer, I don't know. I have wondered about this pretty much my whole life!

What country are you in? The "unwritten rules" for getting along in society can be quite different from country to country, and I might hesitate to apply advice that would work in the US.

For instance, in a high-corruption country, this might be a case where you need to "go along to get along" and not ask too many questions...