HomeMy WebLinkAboutCorrespondence - BOCCMemo
To: All Grant County
From: Board of County Commissioners
Date: September 8, 2020
Re: Payroll tax deferral
Grant County
Office of The
Commissioners
P O Box 37
Ephrata WA 98823
(509) 754-2011
On August 8, 2020, President Trump issued a memorandum directing the Treasury Department
(IRS) to authorize the deferral of certain payroll tax obligations. Under this memorandum, the
employee's portion of social security tax could be deferred from the period beginning on
September 1, 2020 and ending on December 31, 2020 for employees whose bi-weekly earnings
are less than $4,000 pre-tax. Currently, the deferred tax must be repaid to the IRS beginning
January 1, 2021 through April 30, 2021, which means a doubling of the employee's social
security taxes withheld during this time period. IRS guidance issued on August 21, 2020, allows
employers to opt out of the payroll tax deferral program.
The Grant County Commissioners have determined that deferral of the payroll tax could place
significant hardship on employees in 2021 (due to the doubling of the taxes) if Grant County
chose to opt in to this program. Additionally, the administrative burden to implement this
program would be significant on employees processing payroll for the County. Therefore, the
Grant County Commissioners have decided to opt out of this program and will continue to
withhold and remit to the IRS both the employer and employee portions of the social security tax.
If deferred payroll taxes are ultimately forgiven by the IRS and are not required to be repaid, the
County will request a refund of the taxes from the IRS and would re -distribute the taxes to
employees.
Richard Stevens Thomas Taylor Cindy Carter
District 1 District 2 District 3
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