social security and medicare tax corrected finally on W2c but not yet filed by employer.

[sagarjvora]

My employer did not withhold my FICA (social security and medicare). They thought I am a student.

I discovered that while filing my 2018 return. so far my social security and medicare tax withheld =0

I filed my other taxes (federal and state) and I also filed for tax extension to get time to deal with employer on social security and medicare taxes.

Upon requesting employer, they provided corrected W2c. Now W2c displays social security and medicare boxes (its correct amount on W2c). but employer has not yet filed those taxes. Employer is asking me to file those. I think social security and medicare taxes are employer's responsibility to file them. I told my employer that I can reimburse them in check but it seems they are not clear of the process and they think I should file these taxes.

What should I do?

[macuser_22]

You are correct.  YOU cannot file or report FICA tax.    Nothing about FICA actually goes on a tax return at all.  The only reason to enter it is so it can be determined if you are owed a refund of over withheld  Social Security and or Medicare tax.    AS long as not over withheld then nothing at all is on your tax return.  

The actual SS and Medicare tax is administrated by the Social Security Administration and not the IRS.   The employer must submit the W2-C so that the SSA can credit your account.

[sagarjvora]

Hello-

Thank you for responding. What do yo mean by  "The employer must submit the W2-C so that the SSA can credit your account". FYI- They issued me W2c with tax amounts on that for SS and medicare taxes..

Employer provided W2c to me now but they are not clear on who would pay those taxes now. They think its not withheld but they gave me W2c. Now they are asking me to pay those 2 taxes. I have no idea how can I file them. Looking up on internet it seems there are some adjustment forms which employer would need to file.

[VolvoGirl]

They have to pay it to the ssa with their part.  Then I guess you would have to pay your part back to your employer.  It would not be a deduction on your tax return.

[sagarjvora]

Thanks, I have requested them I could send them checks for reimbursements for SSN and medicare taxes. which will take care of my part. They are still figuring out if they need to pay or not.

[dmertz]

I agree, if the employer issued a W-2C to correct the Social Security and Medicare tax withholding, you need to reimburse them and they must remit that amount.  I'm not familiar with the process, but I suspect that the employer will need to file Form 941-X to accompany the payment and any penalty for the late payment:  https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i941x.pdf

[macuser_22]

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@sagarjvora wrote:

What do yo mean by  "The employer must submit the W2-C so that the SSA can credit your account".

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You want the FICA withholding to be properly credited to your Social Security account so that when you retire, you will get credit for it.

W-2's are sent to the SSA, not the IRS.   Employers do not send a W-2/W-2C by itself, they must use a 914, 943 or 944 form depending on the employer.    Those are employer forms, not employee forms.     I believe that if the employer has a certain number of employees then them must file those forms electronically that requires an employer account.   The employee cannot file those forms.

[sagarjvora]

I had applied for extension for tax filing. I paid federal and state taxes then filed extension.

To complete my tax returns now, Do I need to wait for employer to finish paying SSN and medicare taxes first?

Or Can I finish my filing part independently since I already have W2c from employer?

Or do I need any proof from employer that they paid those taxes?

Is my filing of tax return dependent on Employer now?

Trying to determine sequence of events as next steps..

[dmertz]

There is no reason to delay your tax return filing while waiting for your employer to complete the correction.  Unless you have multiple employers resulting in your total wages exceeding the $128,700 Social Security wage base for 2018 or your income is high enough to make you subject to Additional Medicare Tax (Form 8959), the amount of Social Security and Medicare taxes shown on your W-2s has no effect on your income tax return.  Just enter the W-2 as corrected.  There is a chance that entry will be questioned if the employer has not filed the W-2C, so if requested you might have to supply the paper copies of the W-2 and W-2C.