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.
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Wilbur Jenkins is the Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer at WoodmenLife — an industry leader with more than $11 billion in assets — where he leads Core Operations, Human Resources, and Strategic Initiatives with a focus on driving digital transformation to enhance the customer experience. His career includes senior roles at Argo Group International Holdings and Hartford Financial Services Group. Jenkins is known for his ability to lead cross-functional teams across enterprise-wide functions to achieve strategic goals.
Gemma Ros is the chief technology officer at TheZebra.com, the company simplifying the insurance shopping experience. In this role, Gemma leads the engineering, DevOps, and data teams, driving innovation and operational excellence. She is an excellent source on technology innovation in the insurtech space, what it means to be an impactful and effective leader, her journey to the CTO role and more.
Gemma is a senior technology executive and business strategist with more than 20 years of experience in financial services and product development. Gemma began her career as a developer at a bulge bracket investment bank, where she gained deep expertise in building robust, scalable, and low-latency trading and risk management systems in dynamic environments. After eight years on Wall Street, she co-founded a technology startup, then expanded her expertise to insurtech and private lending before joining TheZebra.com in 2022.
Throughout her career, Gemma has been recognized for delivering high-impact technology solutions, building and scaling high-performing teams, and attracting and retaining top engineering talent.
She holds a master's degree in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College. Outside of her professional experiences, Gemma enjoys spending time with her kids, reading, and adding to her ever-expanding Lego collection.
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.
