If it’s OPTIONAL, there is no need to comply.  Compliance costs both your time and your money. 

The latest rules released by the IRS explained here:  http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=237870,00.html require that small employers (less than 250 W-2’s per year) do not have to report health insurance benefits paid on behalf of their employees.  Others will have to comply in 2013 when reporting 2012 W-2’s.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f940–dft.pdf

Above is the latest draft release of Form 940 for 2011, which requires that you separate FUTA taxable wages for the first six months of the year from the last six months of the year.

On the IRS website, there is now a January 2011 version of Form 941-X, Adjusted Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return or Claim for Refund, and the Form 941-X instructions. The form was last revised in September 2010.

The January 2011 version of Form 941-X can be viewed on the IRS website at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f941x.pdf. The January 2011 version of the Form 941-X instructions can be viewed at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i941x.pdf.

Unreported tips. A new line has been added to Form 941-X (Part 3, line 11) to report any corrections to the amounts reported on Form 941, line 7c (for quarters ending before 2011), or line 5e (for quarters ending after 2010), to the FICA tax due from an IRS “Section 3121(q) Notice and Demand” letter.

Daniel Lauer, Program Manager for the IRS National Tip Compliance Program, discussed the “Section 3121(q) Notice and Demand” letter during the May 12 payroll industry conference call. He pointed out that an employer will not have to report anything on this line of Form 941 (or Form 941-X) unless the employer has been contacted by the IRS about unreported tip income. Lauer said that this usually happens in three situations: (1) The IRS has conducted an audit of the employer and found that the employer failed to report some tips. (2) The IRS has uncovered some unreported tips using a new tip compliance program that it launched last year. (3) An IRS audit of an employee uncovered some unreported tips that the employer also failed to report.

A “Section 3121(q) Notice and Demand” letter instructs the employer to include the FICA taxes shown in the notice and demand letter on the employer’s next Form 941. Lauer said that an employer will not be subject to any interest charges or deposit penalties if it properly reports the taxes as instructed in the notice and demand letter, and remits the tax due with its Form 941, or if it timely makes a deposit in accordance with the instructions in the letter. The letter will be issued well before the end of the quarter. The deposit needs to be made before the end of the quarter to avoid penalties, Corrections to the amounts reported on Form 941 are reported on Form 941-X.

Payroll tax exemption in the HIRE Act. The new version of Form 941-X notes that the lines for the payroll tax exemption in the HIRE Act (Part 3, lines 12a-12c) should only be completed for corrections to quarters ending after March 31, 2010, and before Jan. 1 , 2011, since the payroll tax exemption in the HIRE Act can no longer be claimed after Dec. 31, 2010.

IRS no longer behind in processing HIRE Act amended returns:  On the February 3 IRS payroll industry conference call, Debera Salam, Director of Payroll Information and Process Services for Ernst & Young LLP, informed the IRS that several of her clients who recently filed Form 941-X, Adjusted Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return or Claim for Refund, to claim the payroll tax exemption in the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE Act, P.L. 111-147) had received letters from the IRS stating that there was a backlog in processing these returns and that the returns may not be processed for several months. The payroll tax exemption relieves employers from their share of OASDI taxes (6.2% rate) on wages paid to certain new hires from March 19, 2010 to Dec. 31, 2010. The exemption could not be claimed on Form 941 until the second quarter of 2010. Some employers amended their returns using Form 941-X rather than claiming the exemption on an original Form 941.

The IRS delay in processing the returns was a concern for employers because they have reduced their payroll tax deposits to take into account the credit. Employers were worried that they could receive an IRS notice proposing a federal tax deposit penalty if the amended return was not taken into account. On the March 3 IRS payroll industry conference call, Shelley Dockstader, National Account Manager in IRS Electronic Tax Administration, informed participants that the IRS is now up to date in processing these returns.

IRS official provides some insights on HIRE Act audits:  On the March 3 IRS payroll industry conference call, John Tuzynski, Chief of Employment Tax Operations for the IRS’s Small Business/Self-Employed Division, provided some details on IRS audits of employers who claimed the payroll tax exemption in the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE Act, P.L. 111-147). The HIRE Act encouraged companies to hire unemployed workers from Feb. 4, 2010 to Dec. 31, 2010, by exempting certain wages received by the workers from the employer’s 6.2% share of Social Security taxes (payroll tax exemption). A new hire must have been employed for a total of 40 hours or less during the 60-day period ending on the date that the employment began. For employers to claim the exemption, they must have received a statement from the new hire certifying, under penalties of perjury, that he or she was either unemployed during the 60 days before beginning work or, alternatively, worked fewer than a total of 40 hours for anyone during the 60-day period. Employers could use Form W-11, Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act Employee Affidavit, or a statement similar to Form W-11, to meet this requirement.

Tuzynski said that the IRS has been asking employers to provide a list of the employees for whom they claimed the payroll tax exemption on Form 941. Employers must provide documentation to support the wages that were paid to the workers and the date that the workers were hired. The audit is centered around Form W-11. The IRS will ask for copies of these forms. If there are only a few workers on Form 941, the IRS is likely to review all of their information. If there are many workers on the return, the IRS is likely to review some of the workers’ information. The IRS may ask if the worker was hired to replace another worker. If so, the IRS may ask why the worker was replaced. The examinations are not random. A return is selected for audit based on something on the return that was of interest to the IRS. Tuzynski said that roughly 1,000 exams are currently being conducted. He has been impressed with the level of compliance by employers. There haven’t been many irregularities on the returns.

Most high schoolers graduate in June, and then if attending post-secondary classes, they start that Fall with the first half of their freshman year.  A 4 year college degree therefore can span 5 tax years.

The American Opportunity Credit, which replaced the Hope Credit, is only available for 4 TAX YEARS and is available only for the first 4 years of postsecondary education.  There is a difference in what each of these “years” means.

If a student started in the Fall semester of 2006, and then continued through 2007, 2008, 2009, graduating in the Spring of 2010 (or anytime in 2010), we’ve just spanned 5 tax years.  However, we’ve only spanned 4 years of postsecondary education – Freshman, Sophmore, Junior and Senior years.  Do you see the difference?

If the Tuition Deduction were claimed in any of those years, then the Hope Credit or American Opportunity Credit were not claimed, because you can’t claim both in the same year.  The Tuition Deduction was extended through December 31, 2010 with the latest round of tax changes signed into law in late December 2010. 

Therefore, if the student has completed only 3.5 years of postsecondary education (not yet completed 4) and hasn’t used all 4 TAX YEARS of either the Hope or American Opportunity Credits before 2010 (by virtue of using the Tuition Deduction in one or more of those intervening years), then you can take the American Opportunity Credit for 2010. 

See IRS Publication 970 for all of the details on Education Credits and the Tuition Deduction.  http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p970.pdf , especially pages 8 and 12 for discussion on the definition of “years” and page 13 for the flowchart to see if the student is eligible.