Has anyone gotten any information about the deferral of employer paid Social Security?

Hello, shannonlozada. 

Thank you for coming into the QuickBooks Community with your question. At this time, our engineers are still working on an update to the QuickBooks Online product that will incorporate the deferral of employer paid Social Security. Keep an eye the following link as it's a one-stop-shop for everything related to the PPP.

-What you need to know about the Paycheck Protection Program. 

If you have any other questions or concerns, feel free to post them here. 

Thank you and have a lovely weekend. 

I called yesterday and today, for Assisted Payroll they do not yet have the capability. Nor did they have information that it is being worked on or what the timetable is for it to roll out.  

The deferral of employer taxes is not part of the Payroll Protection Program

Today is September 1st and still no information.  Will employees be allowed to "opt out"?  Will there be a form provided by QuickBooks for this?  

Read online this morning that these deductions will have to be repaid by employees during the first quarter of 2021, will QuickBooks be prepared for this?

Hello there, @Lou Di.

We've recently got an update from our Intuit Payroll Compliance team that they are working closely with the IRS to determine the accurate process and specifics of this Tax deferral.

At this time, we're working for our solution as Federal Form 941 and Form W2 reporting changes will also be needed to correctly report deferral amounts and workarounds in the system will not be correctly handled or reported.

Also, the US Treasury is working on issuing guidance surrounding the implementation of the deferral, and we will continue to keep you updated on what you need to know on how to either use the deferment or not.

Please continue to reach us here in the Community if you need additional information. I'll be around to provide further assistance. Have a good one.

I got the email but no one has answered the question regarding an employee "opting out" and continuing to have the taxes deducted and paid.

I am concerned that the deductions will be stopped for employees that do not want that to happen.

Please let me know if an "OPTION" has been included in your process.

Thank you

Thanks for checking in to our forum about the IRS Notice 2020-65, @Lou Di,

The IRS recently released a notice last August 28, providing guidance on the implementation of the August 8th Presidential Executive Order to allow deferral of employee's Social Security taxes starting September 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020.

The deferral of the employee taxes is not mandatory and employers can decide whether they want to opt in. The potential to defer the withholding only applies  to employees whose gross pay for the pay period is less than $4,000 for a bi-weekly pay period (or equivalent for other payroll periods, e.g. $2,000 for weekly payroll). No deferral is available for any payment to an employee of taxable wages of $4,000 or above for a bi-weekly pay period.

We recognize the urgency to get the option available in our program at the most earliest time for employees who want this option. Rest assured, our developers are working on implementing this as soon as possible, to ensure our customers are up-to-date with the IRS guidelines.

The good thing about your subscription is having automatic updates enabled. Once this option is released, you will be notified through in-product pop-ups and notifications. If you have employees who opted out for the deferral, you may do your regular payroll processing. We'll take care of the adjustments once the employee deferral is available for those who wish to defer their taxes.

We appreciate your patience while this is being looked into. Please stay tuned to our updates and visit this thread for additional information. I'll be right here if you need anything. Have a good one!

What if my employees DO NOT WANT TO DEFER?

Hi @Lou Di,

I'll take care of this query for you about employee deferral of Social Security tax payments.

This option is exclusive to employers. At this time, the system will continue to calculate these taxes for your employees. 

I'll also place this article for your reference: How the CARES Act affects your payroll. It has a detailed list of different factors, along with a description of its role to your payroll. 

Feel free to post a comment below if you have other questions. I'll get back to you as soon as I can. 

I am quite fluent with the Cares Act.  I want assurance from QuickBooks that your update will not prevent my employees from "Opting Out" of deferral.  That's all

How can you stop the deferral of employer paid social security? Will this also stop collecting the social security for the employees portions as well?

I can help you with that, cpiper24.

You can go to the Payroll Settings to stop the deferral of employer-paid Social Security liability. Feel free to follow these simple steps:

1. Click the Gear icon.
2. Choose Payroll Settings.
3. Under the CARES Act section, select the Employer Social Security deferral link.
4. Uncheck the box next to I want to defer my employer portion of Social Security, and then click OK.

For your employees, you'll need to manually uncheck the Employee Social Security deferral option from the Employees menu. This way, the program won't automatically defer the employee portion of Social Security when you create your next payroll. I'll show you how:

1. Select Payroll from the sidebar menu.
2. Go to the Employees tab.
3. Select the employee you want to disable the Social Security tax deferral.
4. Click Edit next to Pay.
5. Under the What are [employee name] withholdings? section, click the Edit icon.
6. Uncheck the Employee Social Security deferral box.
7. Click Done twice.

I encourage visiting our FAQ page to learn more about the recent Employee Social Security Deferral Memorandum.

Additionally, here's an article that you can read to help track deferrals of the employer share of Social Security tax payments: Deferral payments for Social Security tax payments.

If I can be of any additional assistance, please don't hesitate to add a comment to help. I'll always have your back.