The World of Computer Software/World_Of_Computer_Software-02-387-Vol-3of3.iso/s/sba93_1b.zip/F247.SBE

Text File | 1993-02-13 | 13KB | 289 lines

@144 CHAP 5

          ┌───────────────────────────────────────────┐
          │         WITHHOLDING OF INCOME TAXES       │
          └───────────────────────────────────────────┘

@Q       "If you want a picture of the future, imagine
@Q        a boot stamping on a human face forever."
@Q         -- George Orwell (in an eerily prescient
@Q            reference to IRS SWAT teams of today)

Once you go into business and become an employer, the gov-
ernment automatically appoints you as an agent to collect
federal taxes from your employees, by withholding taxes
from their wages.  You don't get paid for doing this; in
fact, you will be hit with heavy penalties if you DON'T
properly calculate, withhold from your employees' wages,
and pay over federal income and FICA taxes.  One of the
very first things you should do when starting a new busi-
ness, unless you will be a sole proprietor with no em-
ployees, is to file a Form SS-4 with the I.R.S., request-
ing an "Employer Identification Number" and a set of pre-
printed Federal Tax Deposit forms (Form 8109).  You will
need these coupons to pay over the withheld taxes and the
employer portion of the FICA (Social Security) tax to a
depository bank.  Note that you can't generally make these
payments directly to the I.R.S. -- you must instead deposit
them with a bank that is an authorized tax depository,
along with the properly coded tax deposit coupon.

As a general rule, the more withheld income tax and FICA
taxes you have to deposit, the more promptly you have to
deposit the taxes.  The rules for when you must make fed-
eral tax deposits can be briefly summarized as follows:

____________________________________________________________

         NEW (1993) "SIMPLIFIED" TAX DEPOSIT RULES:
____________________________________________________________

Beginning in 1993, the federal employment tax deposit rules
are considerably simplified, as follows:

All employers are considered to be either "monthly" or "semi-
weekly" depositors.  You will be considered a "monthly depo-
sitor" if the total amount of employment taxes (income tax
and FICA taxes) you reported for the "lookback period" (which
is the 12 months ended on the most recent June 30th) was
$50,000 or less.  Otherwise, you are considered a "semi-
weekly depositor."  A monthly depositor must deposit all
federal employment taxes for each calendar month by the 15th
day of the next month.

Semi-weekly depositors have until the following Wednesday to
deposit taxes withheld on Wednesday, Thursday, and/or Friday.
For taxes withheld on Saturday through Tuesday, a deposit
must be made on or before the following Friday.  (If the
deposit due date is not a banking day, then the deposit is
not due until the next banking day.)

However, there is one exception to the above rules:  If, on
any day an employer has $100,000 or more of accumulated un-
deposited employment taxes, these taxes are required to be
deposited by the close of the next banking day.  (Note that
a monthly depositor only counts taxes withheld for a given
calendar month, in determining if the $100,000 threshold has
been reached; similarly, a semi-weekly depositor counts only
those taxes withheld during the semi-weekly period in ques-
tion, Wednesday-Friday or Saturday-Tuesday.)  Once an em-
ployer becomes subject to the one-day rule for the first
time, such an employer will no longer be a monthly depositor
for the rest of that calendar year or during the following
calendar year.

The old, more complex, tax deposit rules described below may
still be followed in calendar year 1993, if an employer
chooses to do so.  This flexibility is intended to give em-
ployers a whole year, if necessary, to change over their
payroll systems to the new simplified schedule.  The old
(pre-'93) rules are summarized as follows:

____________________________________________________________

AMOUNT OF UNDEPOSITED TAXES           DEPOSIT WITH BANK BY
____________________________________________________________

Less than $500 at the end of       Last day of the following
a calendar quarter                 month (or can mail in the
                                   payment with Form 941 re-
                                   turn)

$500 or more, but less than        15th day of the following
$3,000 undeposited at end of       month
any eighth-monthly period (a
period ending on the 3rd, 7th,
11th, 15th, 19th, 22nd, 25th,
or last day of any month)

$3,000 or more undeposited at      3rd banking day after the
the end of an eighth-monthly       end of the eighth-monthly
period                             period in which undepos-
                                   ited taxes reach $3,000

$100,000 undeposited (any time)    1st banking day following

At least 95% of the tax due must be deposited when required
each month, for an employer making eighth-monthly deposits,
to avoid penalty.  For a more detailed explanation of feder-
al tax deposits, including the new rules, obtain a copy of
the IRS's "Notice 109."
____________________________________________________________

Under both the old and new rules, penalties may be imposed
by the IRS on late deposits at the rates of:

 .  2% for deposits less than 5 days late;

 .  5% for deposits 5 to 15 days late;

 .  10% for over 15 days

 .  15% in case of failure to correct under-deposit
    within 10 days after date of first delinquency
    notice.

By the end of the month following each calendar quarter,
you must also file a payroll tax return, reconciling all
the tax deposits you made during the quarter with wages
paid, and paying up if you made an underpayment.  Most
employers file Form 941 for this purpose.

When a new employee is hired, you must furnish to the em-
ployee a federal Form W-4 which he or she must complete
(filling in Social Security number and the number of "with-
holding exemptions" claimed) and return it to you.  You
retain the W-4 in your files, and use it to determine how
much income tax to withhold, based on the employee's in-
come and number of withholding exemptions claimed.

By the end of January af the end of each year, you must
furnish each employee with a copy of Form W-2, Annual Wage
and Tax Statement, which shows the amount of compensation
you paid the employee for the year and the amount of vari-
ous taxes (including state income tax, if any) that was
withheld from wages.  By the last day of February, you must
file an original of the W-2's and a summary Form W-3 with
the IRS.  Note that if you file 250 or more W-2's and other
information returns, they MUST be filed with the IRS in
proper format on "magnetic media," rather than filing the
paper forms.

@CODE: CA HI LS
@CODE:NF

               @STATE WITHHOLDING REQUIREMENTS

@STATE has withholding requirements fairly similar
to the federal rules for federal income and FICA taxes.
@CODE:OF
@CODE: CA
The California rules apply to withheld California person-
al income tax and SDI (State Disability Insurance) with-
held from employees' wages.  Employers in California are
required to register with the Employment Development
Department (on Form DE 1, a copy of which is included in
"STARTING & OPERATING A BUSINESS IN CALIFORNIA," if you
have the book) in order to obtain a state employer ident-
ification number or account number that must appear on
your state payroll tax returns.

The state provides withholding tables for regular wage
withholding.  Employers are required to withhold a flat
6% of bonuses or other supplemental wages.

California withholding tax requirements, which were
considerably more complex than the federal rules until
recently, have been simplified for 1992 and subsequent
years.  The new requirements are summarized as follows:

____________________________________________________________

   PAYMENT RULE                        WHEN PAYMENT IS DUE
____________________________________________________________

    EIGHTH-MONTHLY PAYMENTS
         (FORM DE 88)

Notwithstanding the rules listed      If the amount of state
below, all withheld state income      tax withheld exceeds
tax (SIT) and SDI must be paid        $75, the deposit must
over at the same time as any re-      must be remitted in the
quired federal tax deposit by an      same time as required
employer making eighth-monthly        for the federal tax de-
deposits of federal withholding       posit (generally three
and FICA taxes.                       banking days).

    MONTHLY PAYMENTS (FORM DE 88*)

If the employer is required to make   Make payment within the
a monthly deposit of federal taxes    same number of days as
(income tax and FICA) and the SIT     is required for federal
withheld is more than $75.            purposes.

If not required to make federal       Make payment by the 15th
monthly deposits, monthly deposits    day of the next month.
are still required with EDD if
SIT withheld in a month, or the
cumulative total of two or more
months in a quarter, exceeds $75.
(Remit any withheld SDI along with
SIT.)


    QUARTERLY PAYMENTS (FORM DE 3DP)

Remit all undeposited taxes           File and make payment
with your quarterly report.           on or before the last
                                      day of the month fol-
                                      lowing the close of
                                      the calendar quarter.

____________________________________________________________

  * NOTE:  Newly registered employers subject to monthly
    and/or eighth-monthly deposits will be mailed a coupon
    book with 26 of the DE88 payment coupons.  It is your
    responsibility to re-order additional coupons before
    your run out of them.
____________________________________________________________

Payments of California employment taxes go directly to the
Employment Development Department and, unlike federal pay-
roll taxes, are not made via bank deposits.  Payment is
considered made when it is placed in the U.S. mail in a
properly addressed envelope. [Cal. Unemp. Ins. Code Section
13021(h)]  An annual "Reconciliation of Income Tax Withheld"
(Form DE 43) is due by February 28, after the end of each
year, along with copies of W-2 forms for all employees.

CALIFORNIA PARTNERSHIPS.  In addition to wage withholding,
partnerships doing business in California are now generally
required to withhold state income tax, at a rate of 7%, on
distributions made to partners who are not California resi-
dents, which started in 1990.  THIS IS A NEW REQUIREMENT,
WITH HEAVY PENALTIES FOR FAILURE TO WITHHOLD!

@CODE:OF
@CODE: HI
The Hawaii state income tax withholding is computed in ac-
cordance with tables and schedules provided by the state
Department of Taxation, in "Booklet A, Employer's Tax
Guide."

Employers who are subject to withholding tax requirements
must register with the Department of Taxation by filing
Form GEW-TA-RV-3 (which also serves as registration for the
General Excise Tax and the Transient Accommodations Tax and
for the Rental and Tour Vehicle Surcharge Tax).  A state
withholding tax ID number is assigned upon filing such a
registration.

Withheld taxes are generally paid to the state monthly, on
the 15th day of the month following the month being re-
ported.  An employer may file on a quarterly basis if total
tax withheld does not exceed $1,000 a year.  Income tax
withholding is reported on a quarterly/monthly reporting
form, Form HW-14.  Employers should obtain a filled out
Form HW-4 (similar to federal W-4) from each employee on
or before the date employment commences.

At the end of each calendar year, on or before January 31,
an employer must give each employee a Form HW-2 (similar to
federal Form W-2, which can be given in lieu of the HW-2,
if desired), showing the amount of state income tax with-
held and the total compensation paid the employee for the
preceding year.  By the last day of February, the employer
must file Form HW-3, Annual Reconciliation Report, together
with copies of all Forms HW-2 (or federal Forms W-2) plus a
list or adding machine tape of the tax withheld as shown by
the withholding statements.

@CODE:OF

@CODE: LS
In @STATE, employers who fail to pay over withheld
wages are likely to receive suspended sentences -- from a
gibbet.

@CODE:OF