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.
David Dawkins is managing director and business execution director at Wells Fargo Advisors.
He is also a board member of the SIFMA Foundation, which focuses on youth investors and financial education.
Lisa Cregan is head of field leadership readiness and acquisition at Morgan Stanley.
Over a 40-year career, she has worked to make the financial services industry more inclusive and successful by welcoming talent from across the spectrum. In 2022, she founded the Climb-Pause-Lift Foundation, which supports women athletes through scholarships, grants and avenues to internships and full-time positions in wealth management. She is a trustee emerita for the Women's Sports Foundation, founded in 1974 by Billie Jean King, and is a contributor to the Georgetown University Women's Leadership Institute.
The research reveals that even though most accountants expect AI to change their jobs, upend client expectations and increase opportunities, the majority are not currently using AI and are reluctant to do so in the near future.
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.
