Payroll Liabilities and Tax Records Chapter 13 Analyzing and Journalizing the Payroll • When a business has more than a couple employees, it typically handles it’s payroll from a separate payroll account. – A check is written from the general account and deposited into the payroll account – The amount transferred is equal to the total net pay for the pay period • Salaries Expense is debited the amount of Gross Pay and Cash (the amount of net pay) and payroll liability accounts are credited • Deductions are liabilities to the company (money owed to someone else). They are stored in separate accounts until paid to the proper place – – – – – – Employees’ Federal Income Tax Payable Social Security Tax Payable Medicare Tax Payable Hospital Insurance Premium Payable U.S. Savings Bonds Payable Etc. Pg 340-341 Journalizing and Posting Payroll Pg 343 Employer’s Payroll Taxes • For each employee a company has, it must pay it’s own share of taxes. – FICA • Social Security • Medicare – Federal Unemployment Tax – State Unemployment Tax Pg 346 Computing Payroll Tax Expense • FICA – Employers pay the same percent of FICA as employees. The percent is multiplied by the total gross income amount. • Federal and State Unemployment Taxes – Employers pay Federal Unemployment Taxes on the first $7,000 of annual earnings per employee – State Unemployment Taxes are usually about .8% • Federal Tax Rate – deduction of 5.4% max of state rate • (6.2% - 5.4% = .8%) (state rate – maximum deductible amount) Pg 347 Journalizing the Employer Payroll Taxes • Payroll Tax Expense is where all payroll taxes are expensed from payables. Pg 348 Pg 349 Paying Payroll Tax Liabilities • FICA and Federal Income Taxes – A business makes one payment combining Social Security, Medicare, and Employee’s Federal Income Tax – Most businesses do this monthly – Taxes are due by the 15th day of the month following the payroll month – Many businesses pay their tax withholdings using Form 8109 (Federal Tax Deposit Coupon) • 941 means it is for the taxes listed above • 2nd quarter indicates the quarter the pay period fell in – Many larger businesses use the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) Pg 351 Form 8109 Pg 351 Journalizing Employer’s Fed and State Inc Tax Liability Pg 352 Federal Unemployment Tax Pg 354 State Unemployment Tax & Voluntary Deductions Pg 355 Posting Payment of Payroll Liabilities Pg 356 Preparing Payroll Tax Forms • Employers must complete a variety of payrollrelated tax forms: – W-2 – Wage and Tax Statement – Annually – W-3 – Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statement – Annually – 941 – Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return Quarterly – Employer’s Annual Federal Unemployment (FUTA) Tax Return - Annually Pg 357 Pg 358 Pg 359