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Clownstick Executive (dis)Order - Payroll tax deferrals

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Don't Panic
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Well, the payroll tax deferrals were to start 2 days ago. Good thing that the Treasury Department provided some vague guidance just 2 business days prior to the start. Cuz, I'm sure it just takes a couple snaps of the fingers to tweak thousands of company payroll systems. Here is a good article about how this Cluster Fuck is not really going to get lift off from cesspool. UPS is one of the large ones already saying fuck this. Most seem to be demurring with a 'we are looking at it' BS. But of course the Federal government will do it for its employees, but even they are only 'aiming' for the following pay period between September 18 and 24.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/shahar...ikely-to-defund-social-security/#5dc33d011af0
To add insult to injury, the guidance itself wasn’t attractive. It clarified that the short deferral of the tax was not an elimination of the tax and would leave employers on the hook for repaying the tax in early 2021. It also articulated that the deferral would only be for a few short months, which would likely reduce employee wages in 2021 as companies double employees payroll taxes. The net result is that the odds of many employers participating is low.
<snip>
Payroll experts advised Congress and Treasury that the type of action Trump was advocating would require at least six months of programming changes. Large companies, like Walmart, Macy’s, and Procter & Gamble, said they needed more details from the IRS before deciding whether to implement the deferral. “The lack of concrete guidance on the most basic of implementation issues presents an untenable situation, making it basically impossible for employers to implement this EO and leaving little choice but for those employers to continue remitting payroll taxes to the Treasury,”
<snip>
What became clear from Notice 2020-65 was that employers are indeed responsible for withholding and paying back any deferred taxes, putting them at significant risk if they cannot collect those funds from employees.
<snip>
In some ways, one could argue that Treasury was doing everything it could to silently sabotage the payroll tax deferral; appeasing Trump by providing guidance and putting the payback burden on employers, but doing it so late in the game and making it so unattractive that the likelihood of many employers opting to implement the deferral would be low.
 
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