Questions Remain After IRS Issues Guidance on Payroll Tax Deferral Program

Questions Remain After IRS Issues Guidance on Payroll Tax Deferral Program

by | Accounting News, Business Consulting, COVID-19, IRS, News, Tax, Tax Planning

On Aug. 28, 2020, as part of COVID-19 relief, President Trump issued a presidential memorandum allowing employers to suspend withholding and paying to the IRS eligible employees’ Social Security payroll taxes from September 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020. The IRS then issued guidance on the payroll tax deferral in Notice 2020-65, but some questions still remain, and additional guidance in anticipated. Here’s what we know now.

Notice 2020-65 Provides Basic Guidance

For those implementing the program, the Notice provides barebones components of the payroll tax deferral, which applies to the employee portion of Social Security Tax.

  • For employees earning less than $4,000 in a bi-weekly pay period, employers would defer withholding/depositing employee share of social security tax on wages earned for payroll periods on or after September 1, 2020.
  • For employees whose wages fluctuate, the deferral is applicable to wages paid in any bi-weekly pay period during the dates specified in which the employee earns less than $4,000, regardless of wages or compensation paid to the employee for any other pay period. Therefore, the employer may defer to collect the tax in a pay period where the employee earns less than $4,000 but be required to collect it for another pay period where the employee earns more than $4,000.

Though Treasury Secretary Mnuchin announced previously that the deferral program would be optional, the Notice does not specifically address whether it is mandatory or optional.

Departing Employees

One main reason that employers may not be eager to offer the benefit to employees is due to the absence of guidance regarding the situation of an employee’s termination or otherwise leaving employment ahead of paying the deferred amount. The employer and employee can come up with an arrangement (i.e. deducting the amount owed from the final paycheck), but should an employer fail to collect from the employee, the IRS could go after the employer.

To Defer or Not to Defer?

Given that the motive behind the tax deferral program is to get more money into the pockets of employees now in order to make ends meet due to reduced wages and/or hours, employers may think it worthwhile to extend this option to their employees. An average worker who completely defers Social Security taxes until December 31, 2020 would save just under $800, or about $60 per week. Employees must keep in mind that it is a temporary relief in the form of a deferral, not a tax forgiveness, though the President’s Executive Order does encourage Treasury to look into possible avenues for forgiveness. At best the tax deferral is an opportunity for workers to funnel those funds into an emergency savings account, ensuring that the savings will be on hand should Treasury fail to put forth a path for forgiveness and the taxes are consequently deducted from paychecks next year.

Wrangling Continues over the Payroll Tax Cut

by | Accounting News, Audit and Accounting, CPA, IRS, QuickBooks, Tax Consulting, Uncategorized

By AccountingWEB Staff

Time is running out before the payroll tax rate automatically increases in two weeks, and the dispute over how to fund it continues.

The tax measure at issue would maintain the payroll tax rate at 4.2 percent for the year 2012 instead of allowing it to revert to 6.2 percent January 1. It’s a tax cut worth about $1,000 to families earning $50,000 a year. The payroll tax bill also would renew benefits for the long-term unemployed and prevent a cut in Medicare benefits for seniors.

This morning (December 19), the Associated Press reported that “Boehner spoke after a chaotic weekend in which Senate leaders first failed to agree on a full-year bill, then coalesced around the two-month extension that passed overwhelmingly, only to spark a revolt among GOP conservatives in the House.”

Here’s a summary of what’s been happening:

While the GOP-led House passed a bill on December 14 extending the tax cut, the legislation relied on a pay freeze and increased pension contributions for civilian federal employees. In addition, it raised Medicare premiums for seniors, and it raised a fee that’s charged to banks with mortgages guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The bill didn’t have the votes to pass the Senate.

On Friday, December 16, Senate leaders reached an agreement to pass a two-month extension on the payroll tax cut, keeping the 4.2 percent rate through February. The agreement requires the administration to decide within 60 days if the controversial 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline is in the nation’s best interests. Some environmental groups oppose the project, but several unions support it.

Senate Republican Leader, Mitch McConnell, said Keystone XL would create about 20,000 jobs. Critics say the figure would be fewer than 3,500, including fewer than 1,000 that would be permanent.

House Speaker, John Boehner, said Friday that his chamber will not sign off on an extension of the payroll tax cut without including a provision to force a quick decision on the pipeline construction.

Obama would prefer to postpone the controversial matter, and he threatened to veto any bill that forces a decision. Because the project crosses international borders, it requires White House approval. The administration complained that House Republicans are injecting “ideological issues into what should be a simple debate about cutting taxes for the middle class.”

Original Article: http://www.accountingweb.com/topic/tax/wrangling-continues-over-payroll-tax-cut