You know there are deductions to take out of your employees’ paychecks. But, are theypre-tax vs. post-tax deductions？what is withheld from an employee’s take home pay? What are payroll deductions? Read on to learn the different deductions you have to take out of each employee’s paycheck.

what are payroll deductions?

Payroll deductions are amounts taken out of an employee’s paycheck each pay period. An employee’sgross payis different than theirnet pay, or take home pay, because of the deductions subtracted. There are both mandatory and voluntary payroll deductions. Examples of payroll deductions include federal, state, and local taxes, health insurance premiums, and job-related expenses.

Mandatory payroll deductions

By law, employers are required to withhold payroll taxes from employee wages and submit them to tax agencies. These taxes are statutory employee deductions from payroll.Failure to pay payroll taxescan lead to penalization.

FICA tax and federal income tax are federally mandated taxes and must be reported on表格941或者表格944。The taxes must be remitted electronically usingEFTP(Electronic Federal Tax Payment System).

FICA tax

Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax is made up of Social Security and Medicare taxes. Both the employee and employer contribute toFICA taxequally. Social Security tax is 6.2% of an employee’s income if it is at or below the社会保障wage base。Medicare tax is 1.45% of the employee’s医疗保险应税工资。The total deduction for FICA is 7.65% from an employee’s paycheck. As the employer, you must also pay a 7.65% contribution.

什么是使用薪金税？FICA taxes cover public care.社会保障goes toward those who are retired, disabled, or to the families of the deceased. Medicare pays forhospital-related benefitslike hospice care and home health care.

Federal income tax

联邦所得税是根据您的员工计算的表格W-4以及其gr的信息oss pay. You can use the income tax withholding tables in the IRS’sPublication 15-T计算从员工的薪水中扣留的金额。

联邦所得税涉及public services例如运输，教育和军队。

State and local taxes

每个州都有自己的所得税结构。要找出您需要从员工的州和地方税的薪水中扣留多少check with your state。如果您是新雇主，请咨询我们的州逐州清单payroll information for employers。

Like federal taxes, state and local taxes go towardpublic services。

Garnishments

wage garnishmentsare necessary if one of your employees has an unpaid debt. If you need to withhold garnishments from an employee’s paycheck, you will receive an order from a court or government agency with more information.

Voluntary payroll deductions

除了强制性的工资扣除外，您可能需要扣留额外的钱。自愿付款扣除需要员工同意。要参与不同的福利，员工必须选择。

Health insurance premiums

Health insurance deductions will vary based on what you offer at your small business and the plan your employee chooses. Health insurance coverage includes doctor visits and prescriptions.

Retirement plans

If you offer a retirement plan, your employee can opt into having money withheld for a personal retirement fund. The money an employee contributes now will benefit them when they retire. There are many differentsmall business retirement options像IRA（个人退休帐户）或401（k）。

Life insurance premiums

An employee can choose to have deductions taken out of their paychecks to go toward a life insurance premium. In the event of your employee’s death, their life insurance provides their beneficiaries with payment.

Job-related expenses

如果您的小企业向员工收取与工作相关的费用，例如工会会费，制服和餐点，则需要从员工的薪水中扣除他们。

Do you need help with your payroll? Make it easy on yourself and try Patriot Software’sonline payrollsoftware. We offer free setup and support so you can run payroll hassle-free. And, Patriot’sFull Service Payrollwill deduct, file, and remit federal, state, and local taxes for you.

This article was updated from its original publish date of 04/23/2012.

This is not intended as legal advice; for more information, please点击这里。