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3 October 20, 2021 draft AS OFDepartment of the TreasuryInternal Revenue ServicePublication 15 Cat. No. 10000W(Circular E), Employer's Tax GuideFor use in 2022 Get forms and other information faster and easier at: (English) (Espa ol) ( ) ( ) (Pусский) (Ti ng Vi t) ContentsWhat's Employer Identification Number (EIN)..112. Who Are Employees?..123. Family Employee's Social Security Number (SSN)..145. Wages and Other Supplemental Payroll Withholding From Employees' Required Notice to Employees About the Earned Income Credit (EIC)..2611. Depositing Filing Form 941 or Form Reporting Adjustments to Form 941 or Form Federal Unemployment (FUTA) Special Rules for Various Types of Services and Third-Party Payer To Get Tax DevelopmentsFor the latest information about developments related to Pub. 15, such as legislation enacted after it was published, go to 's NewThe COVID-19 related credit for qualified sick and family leave wages is limited to leave taken after March 31, 2020, and before October 1, 2021.
4 Gener-ally, the credit for qualified sick and family leave wages as enacted under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and amended and extended by the COVID-related Tax Relief Act of 2020 for leave taken after March 31, 2020, and before April 1, 2021, and the credit for qualified sick and family leave wages under sections Oct 19, 2021 October 20, 2021 draft AS OF3131, 3132, and 3133 of the Internal Revenue Code, as enacted under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the ARP), for leave taken after March 31, 2021, and before October 1, 2021, have expired. However, employers that pay qualified sick and family leave wages in 2022 for leave taken after March 31, 2020, and before October 1, 2021, are eligible to claim a credit for qualified sick and family leave wages in 2022. See the March 2022 revision of the Instructions for Form 941 or the 2022 Instructions for Form 944 for more COVID-19 related employee retention credit has expired.
5 The employee retention credit enacted under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and amended and extended by the Tax-payer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020 was limited to qualified wages paid after March 12, 2020, and before July 1, 2021. The employee retention credit under section 3134 of the Internal Revenue Code, as enacted by the ARP, was limited to wages paid after June 30, 2021, and before January 1, for COBRA premium assistance payments is limited to periods of coverage beginning on or after April 1, 2021, through periods of coverage beginning on or before September 30, 2021. Section 9501 of the ARP provides for COBRA premium assistance in the form of a full reduction in the premium otherwise payable by certain individuals and their families who elect COBRA continuation coverage due to a loss of coverage as the re-sult of a reduction in hours or an involuntary termination of employment (assistance eligible individuals).
6 This CO-BRA premium assistance is available for periods of cover-age beginning on or after April 1, 2021, through periods of coverage beginning on or before September 30, 2021. However, due to the COBRA notice and election period requirements (generally, employers have 60 days to pro-vide notice and assistance eligible individuals have 60 days to elect coverage), some employers may be eligible to claim the COBRA premium assistance credit on em-ployment tax returns for the first quarter of 2022. See the March 2022 revision of the Instructions for Form 941 or the 2022 Instructions for Form 944 for more security and Medicare tax for 2022. The rate of social security tax on taxable wages, including qualified sick leave wages and qualified family leave wages paid in 2022 for leave taken after March 31, 2021, and before Oc-tober 1, 2021, is each for the employer and em-ployee or for both.
7 Qualified sick leave wages and qualified family leave wages paid in 2022 for leave taken after March 31, 2020, and before April 1, 2021, aren't sub-ject to the employer share of social security tax; therefore, the tax rate on these wages is The social security wage base limit is $147, Medicare tax rate is each for the employee and employer, unchanged from 2021. There is no wage base limit for Medicare security and Medicare taxes apply to the wages of household workers you pay $2,400 or more in cash wa-ges in 2022. Social security and Medicare taxes apply to election workers who are paid $2,000 or more in cash or an equivalent form of compensation in the deferred amount of the employer share of social security tax. The CARES Act allowed employers to defer the deposit and payment of the employer share of social security tax. The deferred amount of the employer share of social security tax was only available for deposits due on or after March 27, 2020, and before January 1, 2021, as well as deposits and payments due after January 1, 2021, that were required for wages paid on or after March 27, 2020, and before January 1, 2021.
8 One-half of the employer share of social security tax is due by De-cember 31, 2021, and the remainder is due by December 31, 2022. Because both December 31, 2021, and Decem-ber 31, 2022, are nonbusiness days, payments made on the next business day will be considered timely. Any pay-ments or deposits you make before December 31, 2021, are first applied against your payment due on December 31, 2021, and then applied against your payment due on December 31, 2022. For more information, go to Also see the Instructions for Form 941 or the Instruc-tions for Form 944 for more information, including how to pay the deferred the deferred amount of the employee share of social security tax. The Presidential Memorandum on Deferring Payroll Tax Obligations in Light of the Ongoing COVID-19 Disaster, issued on August 8, 2020, directed the Secretary of the Treasury to defer the withholding, de-posit, and payment of the employee share of social secur-ity tax on wages paid during the period from September 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020.
9 The deferral of the withholding and payment of the employee share of social security tax was available for employees whose social se-curity wages paid for a biweekly pay period were less than $4,000, or the equivalent threshold amount for other pay periods. The employer was required to withhold and pay the total deferred employee share of social security tax ratably from wages paid to the employee between Janu-ary 1, 2021, and December 31, 2021. If necessary, the employer could have made arrangements to otherwise collect the total deferred taxes from the employee. The employer is liable to pay the deferred taxes to the IRS and must do so before January 1, 2022, to avoid interest, pen-alties, and additions to tax on those amounts. Because January 1, 2022, is a nonbusiness day, payments made on January 3, 2022, will be considered timely.
10 For more information about the deferral of employee social security tax, see Notice 2020-65, 2020-38 567, available at #NOT-2020-65, and Notice 2021-11, 2021-06 827, available at #NOT-2021-11. Also see the Instructions for Form 941 or the Instructions for Form 944 for more infor-mation, including how to pay the deferred tax relief. Disaster tax relief is available for those impacted by disasters. For more information about disaster relief, go to tax credit for certain tax-exempt organiza-tions affected by qualified disasters. Section 303(d) of the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020 allows for a payroll tax credit for certain tax-exempt Page 2 Publication 15 (2022)October 20, 2021 draft AS OForganizations affected by certain qualified disasters not related to COVID-19. This credit will be claimed on Form 5884-D (not on Form 941 and Form 944).