Deferring an Employee’s Social Security Tax
Update: You are no longer able to defer employee social security taxes.
Background
In August 2020, President Trump signed an executive order allowing eligible employees to defer Social Security tax through December 31, 2020.
In Patriot Software, you can set this up for your employees by first enabling the “Defer Employee Social Security” at the company level. For more information, check out our help article, “How to Defer Employees’ Social Security Tax in Patriot Software.”
After you have enabled the “Defer Employee Social Security” feature in the software, you can add or remove the deferral from individual employees on the Advanced Tax Settings page on the employee record.
It is the employer’s responsibility to collect deferred tax from the employees’ wages. You need to collect the deferred Social Security tax from employees’ wages between January 1, 2021 – December 31, 2021. The deadline for collecting all deferred employee Social Security tax is December 31, 2021.
For more information, please read our help article, “Collecting Deferred Employee Social Security Taxes”.
To turn on Social Security deferral for an employee
After you have enabled the option to defer employee social security in company settings, proceed with the following steps.
Go to:
- Payroll >> Employee List >> Employee Name >> Advanced Tax Settings
- On the employee record, click the “Defer Social Security Tax for Employee” toggle to change it from its default off to on.
If you do not see the “Defer Social Security Tax” section on the employee Advanced Tax Settings page, you must set it up at the company level. For more information, please read our help article, “How to Defer Employees’ Social Security Tax in Patriot Software.”
Beginning with the next payroll, the Social Security tax for the employee will be deferred. The employee Social Security tax deferral is not retroactive for previous payrolls.
To turn off Social Security deferral for an employee
Go to:
- Payroll >> Employee List >> Employee Name >> Advanced Tax Settings
- On the employee record, click the “Defer Social Security Tax for Employee” toggle to turn it off.
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