What if my employer is still taking out my payroll deduction?
I understand the general concept of why the September payroll deferment is an option thing for businesses. My employer chose to continue taking out my payroll tax instead of temporarily halting the withholding.
If the deferred payments are waivered by which ever Congress is in place come January, what happens to that money. Does the Government keep it? I ask because I suspect my employer will try to find someway to keep them money itself. I'm fairly certain that my employer is deferring their half of the payroll tax, just not the employee half.
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Official comment
Great question and great response! Joel, Christopher's advice is spot on to hang on to all of your pay stubs for proof of what was done. We have one resource here on NerdWallet that touches on this briefly toward the end. You might want to check it out:
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as i understand, The deferment is optional, both in collection, and distribution. if they are collecting it from you, and your pay stubbs reflect this, so should your W2, and you will not be held responsible by the IRS.
copy from Federal Register: " Sec. 4. Tax Forgiveness. The Secretary of the Treasury shall explore avenues, including legislation, to eliminate the obligation to pay the taxes deferred pursuant to the implementation of this memorandum."
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- All taxes collected by the employer are the employers responsibility to pay.. not yours.
if you suspect they are up to something. keep your pay stubbs as a record of taxes withheld.
SS is not part of your refund on taxes, so as far as "what happens to that money?" it goes into the SS pool and is drawn on for pay out.
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Thank you for your response Christopher. I know it wouldn't be like a tax return or anything. In face I try to avoid a tax return.
My biggest fear here is that my employer will "take" the taxes out these next for months, but not pay them right away and sort of pretend they were deferred, and then, if the payments are forgiven after the first of the year, choose to keep the taxes that were taken out Sept-Dec. Is there any way to compare my Pay Stub or W2 SS tax withholdings to the amount actually deposited into SS for this year?
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The wages garnished, as they appear on the stub should match the W2. the w2 is the same form your employer uses to report your wages to the IRS. So whatever numbers are given to you on stubs or W2 will match the reporting at the IRS, and match the funds the IRS expects the employer to have paid. it won't be easy for them to skim the SS earnings from you.
the only thing that would be a red flag is if you receive an amended W2 or anything other than a standard W2 for this tax year.
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