IRS issues guidance on repayment of deferred payroll taxes

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.

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.

CORONAVIRUS IMPACT: ADDITIONAL COVERAGE
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Mastercard has increased the contactless payment limit to CA$250 across Canada to provide consumers with a safer way to pay during the coronavirus pandemic.

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Bonnie Sinnock is National Mortgage News' Capital Markets Editor at Arizent and has worked for NMN and affiliated publications since 1995. Her previous roles have included assisting in the coordination of origination coverage, technology reporting and chronicling cross-border issues.

Bonnie currently edits and writes about mortgage capital markets topics that include servicing, acquisitions, industry funding sources, securitization and other secondary market sales. Secondary market topics covered include two government-sponsored enterprise loan buyers that the U.S. has been considering spinning off part of in a new  and potentially groundbreaking initial public offering.

She also has contributed articles to multiple award-winning Arizent series, including:

  • Election Coverage (Finalist, Neal Awards 2025), for her 2024 reporting on the likelihood Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reform in the second Trump administration
  • Online Single-Topic Coverage by a Team (American Society of Business Editors, Regional Bronze 2023), for participating in group reporting about industry layoffs.
  • Online Breaking News Coverage (Regional Bronze, Azbees 2021) for contributing to a package of stories on about the initial impact of the pandemic on the mortgage market
  • Best News Coverage (Neals 2016) for one of the articles in a package delving into multiple aspects of the transformative TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule 

Other journalistic accomplishments and designations include:

  • New York Financial Writers Association member
  • Reporter for the NonProfit Times, the Courier News, and the Los Angeles Independent
  • Published articles in the Los Angeles Times and the Saginaw News
  • Bachelor of Science in Journalism degree from Northwestern University

Twitter: @bcynic

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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

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IRS headquarters in Washington, D.C.
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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.