Payroll Tax basis

If you have a specific question about your tax situation, please contact us.

Basic Federal Tax for Employers for 2014 Taxes

The social security tax rate is 6.2% each for the employee and employer, unchanged from 2013. The social security wage base limit is $117,000.

The Medicare tax rate is 1.45% for the employee and the employer, unchanged from 2013. There is no wage base limit for Medicare tax.

Additional Medicare Tax withholding. In addition to withholding Medicare tax at 1.45%, you must withhold a 0.9% additional Medicare Tax from wages you pay to an employee in excess of $200,000 in a calendar year.

Outsourcing payroll duties. If employers use a third-party vendor, employers must ensure that their payroll vendor files their tax returns and deposits properly and on time. The employer remains responsible if the third party fails to perform any required action.

If you want to outsource your payroll administration, please contact us for recommendations on reliable third-party payroll service providers.

The IRS provides two options (monthly or semi-weekly) for making payroll tax deposits.

The IRS determines deposit schedule you must follow  based on the total tax liability you reported on form 941 during a look-back period. The look back period for a Form 941 filer who filed Form 944 in either 2012 or 2013 is the calendar year 2012.

Below is a listing of the relevant deposit Federal due date schedules for employers. State tax requirements are generally the same.

Monthly Deposit Schedule
You are a monthly schedule depositor for a calendar year if total taxes on Form 941, line 10, for four quarters in your look back period were $50,000 or less.

New employers: The IRS considers your tax liability for any quarter during look back period before you started or acquired your business to be zero. Therefore, you are a monthly schedule depositor for the first calendar year.

If you are a monthly depositor, make your Federal payments by the 15th of the following month.

Semi-weekly Deposit Schedule
You are a semi-weekly depositor for a calendar year if total taxes on Form 941, line 10, during the look back period were more than $50,000.

Semi-Weekly Filers

If your average tax liability is more than $1,000 per month, you will be assigned a semi-weekly filing status. Your payments will be due within three banking days if the abmount of tax withheld exceeds $500 on any federal cutoff date for semi-weekly withholding. Federal cutoff dates are generally on Tuesday and Friday of each week as shown in the information below.

If your liability exceeds $500 for a payday that falls on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, make your semi-weekly payment no latter than the following Wednesday.

If your liability exceeds $500 for a payday that falls on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday, make your semi-weekly payment no latter than the following Friday.