The Internal Revenue Service released information on how employees now have until the end of the year to repay any payroll taxes they deferred from last year.
Former President Trump issued a presidential memorandum last August allowing Social Security taxes to be deferred for the rest of 2020, but under the order they had to be repaid by April 30, 2021. The coronavirus relief package that Congress passed last month extended the repayment period until the end of this year.
Relatively few companies actually implemented the payroll deferral for their employees because there was no guarantee that the deferred payroll taxes would ultimately be forgiven by Congress. However, federal employees and military service members were still required to accept the payroll tax deferral, meaning those taxpayers will be facing smaller paychecks later this year.
Martha Notaras is Managing Partner at Brewer Lane Ventures, investing in early stage insurtech and fintech companies focusing on full stack solutions, technology that enables incumbents, distribution, and leveraging data to predict risk. Brewer Lane Ventures has invested in Socotra, Ladder Life, Avibra, and Cape Analytics. Prior to joining Brewer Lane Ventures, Martha was a Partner at XL Innovate, investing in insurtech startups including Lemonade, GeoQuant, Cape Analytics, Slice Labs, and Pillar Technologies. Martha serves on the boards of Palomar Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLMR) and ATTOM Data Solutions.
Srinivas TK is director of the Global Technology Office at Cognizant. Srinivas is responsible for increasing mindshare of the emerging technology work done in GTO and its labs, thought leadership dissemination, and managing the showcase center for GTO where emerging technologies are displayed in action.
Aan Chauhan is the chief technology officer at Cognizant Technology Solutions. He is responsible for spearheading technology excellence throughout Cognizant. Aan also drives the company’s emerging technology agenda through its Global Technology Office (GTO), overseeing pioneering work in such areas as cognitive computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning, human computer interaction, connected ecosystems, hyperscale computing, quantum computing and robotics and intelligent automation.
In Notice 2021-11, the IRS on Tuesday explained how employers who deferred payroll taxes on behalf of their employees can withhold and pay the deferred taxes throughout 2021 instead of just within the first four months of the year.
The deferral applied to employees who were paid less than $4,000 every two weeks, or an equivalent amount for other pay periods, with each pay period considered separately. The taxes, which are technically called Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance, or OASDI, are calculated at 6.2 percent of employees’ wages.
Notice 2021-11 makes changes to last year’s Notice 2020-65 to reflect the extended payment period. Payments made by Jan. 3, 2022, will be considered to be timely because Dec. 31, 2021, is a legal holiday. However, any penalties, interest and additions to tax will now start to apply on Jan. 1, 2022, for any unpaid balances
The IRS cautioned that employees could see their deferred taxes being collected immediately, so employees should check with their organization’s payroll point of contact on what their collection schedule will be.
