As authorized by the Presidential Memorandum dated August 8, 2020, a number of employers deferred the withholding of their employees’ portion of payroll taxes for the period of September 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020. However, the deferral requires special reporting, and on October 29, 2020, the IRS issued specific year-end and 2021 filing instructions for those employers.

If the deferred payroll memorandum impacted your employees, IRS guidance on reporting the deferral of withholding, depositing and paying the payroll tax is now available at the above link. Also, employers who deferred withholding will need to report the deferred amount of employee Social Security tax on updated Form 941, Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return.