W-2 for SSA - problem

[Catherine]

I have a client who has household employees (nanny x2).  No problem with first employee but second one - who started late in the year - did NOT work as many hours as had been anticipated so her wages were under $1900 for the year (by just over a hundred bucks).  However -- we had been withholding socsec and medi tax anticipating that she *would* have wages over $1900.  Can't pass the Accu-Wage testing due to those withheld taxes.  Also can't enter W-2 info on the SSA site; same issue.

What to do?  Put in $0 socsec/medi wages and taxes for her and have the client pay her the withheld amounts?  Or is there something else?

[Abby Normal]

I think you have to do taxes on both employees.

See item B:

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p926/ar02.html#en_US_2016_publink100086732

[Catherine]

7 minutes ago, Abby Normal said:

I think you have to do taxes on both employees.

See item B:

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p926/ar02.html#en_US_2016_publink100086732

Well, exactly.  There are two employees.  One earned well over $10K; the other just under the $1900 limit.  I am getting errors through AccuWage *and* the SSA online entry system both, because of this $1800-wage-earner.  So what can I do to file these &^%$# W-2's?

[Abby Normal]

Oh, so it's an Accuwage problem. I don't use that. I'd just do paper forms.

[Jack from Ohio]

I use ATX and skip the Accuwage test.  Over the past 4 years, I have accuwage tested 30+ W-2s each year for upload and not a single one ever had an issue.

[Lee B]

The last two years, all of my clients W - 2 s who had SIMPLE Plans (created in ATX) would not pass the Accuwage test.

So I have been filing these W - 2 s with SSA by skipping Accuwage. No problems 

[jklcpa]

Same as Jack. No errors from accuwage in all the years I've filed w-2s except for my own because my name is the same as the firm name with some letters that follow. 

 

[TAXMAN]

Lets address the earnings issue. Is the $1900.00 rule per employee. So that if one was over and the other one not over we only owe SS and MT on the one that is over. But lets look at b giving that one may meet the $1000 rule. So does this mean that we owe everything on everybody?

[Catherine]

36 minutes ago, TAXMAN said:

Lets address the earnings issue. Is the $1900.00 rule per employee. So that if one was over and the other one not over we only owe SS and MT on the one that is over. But lets look at b giving that one may meet the $1000 rule. So does this mean that we owe everything on everybody?

Exactly.  My reading of the IRS rules is that if one employee met the test, you owe on all.  (Plus we had the whole issue of she would have been easily over the $1900 had she not been out sick for two weeks.)