Page 11 - IRS Employer Tax Guide

9:19 - 23-Dec-2019
Page 10 of 48
Fileid: … ations/P15/2020/A/XML/Cycle07/source
The type and rule above prints on all proofs including departmental reproduction proofs. MUST be removed before printing.
Although we can’t respond individually to each com-
Introduction ment received, we do appreciate your feedback and will
consider your comments as we revise our tax forms, in-
This publication explains your tax responsibilities as an structions, and publications. We can’t answer tax ques-
employer. It explains the requirements for withholding, de- tions sent to the above address.
positing, reporting, paying, and correcting employment
taxes. It explains the forms you must give to your employ- Federal government employers. The information in this
ees, those your employees must give to you, and those publication, including the rules for making federal tax de-
you must send to the IRS and the SSA. References to “in- posits, applies to federal agencies.
come tax” in this guide apply only to “federal” income tax. State and local government employers. Payments to
Contact your state or local tax department to determine employees for services in the employ of state and local
their rules. government employers are generally subject to federal in-
When you pay your employees, you don't pay them all come tax withholding but not FUTA tax. Most elected and
the money they earned. As their employer, you have the appointed public officials of state or local governments are
added responsibility of withholding taxes from their pay- employees under common law rules. See chapter 3 of
checks. The federal income tax and employees' share of Pub. 963, Federal-State Reference Guide. In addition, wa-
social security and Medicare taxes that you withhold from ges, with certain exceptions, are subject to social security
your employees' paychecks are part of their wages that and Medicare taxes. See section 15 for more information
you pay to the U.S. Treasury instead of to your employ- on the exceptions.
ees. Your employees trust that you pay the withheld taxes If an election worker is employed in another capacity
to the U.S. Treasury by making federal tax deposits. This with the same government entity, see Revenue Ruling
is the reason that these withheld taxes are called trust 2000-6 on page 512 of Internal Revenue Bulletin 2000-6
fund taxes. If federal income, social security, or Medicare at IRS.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb00-06.pdf.
taxes that must be withheld aren't withheld or aren't de- You can get information on reporting and social secur-
posited or paid to the U.S. Treasury, the trust fund recov- ity coverage from your local IRS office. If you have any
ery penalty may apply. See section 11 for more informa- questions about coverage under a section 218 (Social Se-
tion. curity Act) agreement, contact the appropriate state offi-
Additional employment tax information is available in cial. To find your State Social Security Administrator, visit
Pubs. 15-A, 15-B, and 15-T. Pub. 15-A includes special- the National Conference of State Social Security Adminis-
ized information supplementing the basic employment tax trators website at NCSSSA.org.
information provided in this publication. Pub. 15-B, Em-
ployer's Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits, contains informa- Indian tribal governments. See Pub. 4268 for employ-
tion about the employment tax treatment and valuation of ment tax information for Indian tribal governments.
various types of noncash compensation. Pub. 15-T in-
cludes the federal income tax withholding tables and in- Disregarded entities and qualified subchapter S sub-
structions on how to use the tables. sidiaries (QSubs). Eligible single-owner disregarded en-
Most employers must withhold (except FUTA), deposit, tities and QSubs are treated as separate entities for em-
report, and pay the following employment taxes. ployment tax purposes. Eligible single-member entities
• Income tax. must report and pay employment taxes on wages paid to
their employees using the entities' own names and EINs.
• Social security tax. See Regulations sections 1.1361-4(a)(7) and
• Medicare tax. 301.7701-2(c)(2)(iv).
• FUTA tax. COBRA premium assistance credit. The Consolidated
There are exceptions to these requirements. See sec- Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA)
tion 15 for guidance. Railroad retirement taxes are ex- provides certain former employees, retirees, spouses, for-
plained in the Instructions for Form CT-1. Employment mer spouses, and dependent children the right to tempo-
taxes for agricultural employers are explained in Pub. 51. rary continuation of health coverage at group rates. CO-
BRA generally covers multiemployer health plans and
Comments and suggestions. We welcome your com- health plans maintained by private-sector employers
ments about this publication and your suggestions for fu- (other than churches) with 20 or more full- and part-time
ture editions. employees. Parallel requirements apply to these plans un-
You can send us comments from IRS.gov/ der the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974
FormComments. (ERISA). Under the Public Health Service Act, COBRA re-
Or you can write to: quirements also apply to health plans covering state or lo-
cal government employees. Similar requirements apply
Internal Revenue Service under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program
Tax Forms and Publications and under some state laws. For the premium assistance
1111 Constitution Ave. NW, IR-6526 (or subsidy) discussed below, these requirements are all
Washington, DC 20224 referred to as COBRA requirements.

Page 10 Publication 15 (2020)