IRS Audit, IRS Audit Help, IRS Audit Process, IRS penalties, IRS Tax Problems

Attention Employers: W2 Forms and 1099 Forms are due out by January 31st!

January 30, 2014 - IRS Audit, IRS Audit Help, IRS Audit Process, IRS penalties, IRS Tax Problems

Are you ready to file these required forms? The LAST thing any employer wants is to be delinquent in the employer’s tax filing requirements. What is required and when? .. December 31st marked the end of the fourth quarter of the calendar year. Fourth quarter employers’ reports due by January 31st. You must give your employees their W2 forms by January 31st. You must also give any independent contractors their Forms 1099 Miscellaneous by January 31st. Caution: Do NOT make the costly mistake of treating an employee as an independent contractor! Attention Employees – the next blog is devoted to YOU! .. In addition to the W2 forms given to the employee, you must also send a copy to Social Security Administration (SSA) with the transmittal Form W3. If you withheld state taxes for the benefit of your employee, you must send a W2 copy to your state (with your state’s W3 equivalent). Form W3 must be filed with SSA by the last day of February. I tell my employer clients there is no penalty for filing early. If you file the W3 at the same time as you issue the W2 forms, you are more likely to file it on time. There is no real benefit in waiting to file these forms. .. Most employers file the quarterly report Form 941 to report the taxes withheld from the employees’ paychecks. The taxes withheld include the employees’ federal income taxes, Social Security taxes and Medicare taxes. PLUS the employer matches the Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are self-employed you are considered both employer and employee and you pay the full 15.3 percent of earnings. .. You may be a small employer that has been given permission from the IRS to file an annual Form 944 instead of the quarterly Form 941. Form 944 is due by January 31st for the preceding calendar year’s wages paid. .. In addition to Form 941 (or Form 944), Forms W2/W3 and state equivalent forms, you must also file (and pay) by January 31st, your 4th Quarter state income tax withholding report, file (and pay) your 4th Quarter state unemployment tax report, and file (and pay) your annual federal unemployment tax report Form 940.  Only the first $7000 of wages paid to a covered employee is generally all that is subject to Unemployment tax. Remember to take into account any deposits you made during the earlier quarters for federal unemployment taxes.

To recap:

By January 31, 2014:

1. File Form 941 for the 4th quarter 2013 OR Form 944 for the whole year 2013

2. File your state’s 4th Quarter 2013 income tax withholding tax reports

3. File your state’s 4th Quarter 2013 unemployment tax report

4. File Form 940 for the whole year 2013 federal unemployment tax report

5. Give Forms W2 to your employees

6. Give Forms 1099 to your independent contractors

By February 28, 2014 :

1. Send Form W3 with Copy A of all Forms W2 to Social Security Administration

2. DO not mail the W3/W2 to IRS, it goes to SSA

3. Mail Form 1096 with IRS copy of Forms 1099 to the Internal Revenue Service.

4. 1096 is the form that goes to IRS

5. I’s OKAY to file these transmittal forms in January. You don’t have to wait till February 28th.