Taxpayers (including self-employed taxpayers) will be able to defer paying the employer portion of certain payroll taxes through the end of 2020, with all 2020 deferred amounts due in two equal installments, one at the end of 2021, the other at the end of 2022. The deferral applies to the applicable employment taxes for the period from the date of enactment of the Act (March 27, 2020) and runs through December 31, 2020.
Taxes that can be deferred include the 6.2% employer portion of the Social Security (OASDI) payroll tax and the employer and employee representative portion of Railroad Retirement taxes (that are attributable to the employer 6.2% Social Security (OASDI) rate). The relief isn’t available if the taxpayer has had debt forgiveness under the CARES Act for certain loans under the Small Business Act as modified by the CARES Act. For self-employed taxpayers, the deferral applies to 50% of the Self-Employment Contributions Act tax liability (including any related estimated tax liability).