For the latest information about developments related to Publication 15 (Circular E), such as legislation enacted after it was published, go to www.irs.gov/pub15.

You can provide Formulario W-4(SP), Certificado de Exención de Retenciones del Empleado, in place of Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate, to your Spanish-speaking employees. For more information, see Publicación 17(SP), El Impuesto Federal sobre los Ingresos (Para Personas Físicas). For nonemployees, Formulario W-9(SP), Solicitud y Certificación del Número de Identificación del Contribuyente, may be used in place of Form W-9, Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification.

You may be required to file information returns to report certain types of payments made during the year. For example, you must file Form 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Income, to report payments of $600 or more to persons not treated as employees (for example, independent contractors) for services performed for your trade or business. For details about filing Forms 1099 and for information about required electronic filing, see the General Instructions for Certain Information Returns for general information and the separate, specific instructions for each information return you file (for example, Instructions for Form 1099-MISC). Generally, do not use Forms 1099 to report wages and other compensation you paid to employees; report these on Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement. See the General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3 for details about filing Form W-2 and for information about required electronic filing. If you file 250 or more Forms 1099, you must file them electronically. If you file 250 or more Forms W-2, you must file them electronically. SSA will not accept Forms W-2 and W-3 filed on magnetic media.

Nonpayroll federal income tax withholding (reported on Forms 1099 and Form W-2G) must be reported on Form 945, Annual Return of Withheld Federal Income Tax. Separate deposits are required for payroll (Form 941 or Form 944) and nonpayroll (Form 945) withholding. Nonpayroll items include:

• Pensions (including distributions from tax-favored retirement plans, for example, section 401(k), section 403(b), and governmental section 457(b) plans) and annuities.
• Military retirement.
• Gambling winnings.
• Indian gaming profits.
• Certain government payments, such as unemployment compensation, social security, and Tier 1 railroad retirement benefits, subject to voluntary withholding.
• Payments subject to backup withholding.

For details on depositing and reporting nonpayroll income tax withholding, see the Instructions for Form 945.

All income tax withholding reported on Form W-2 must be reported on Form 941, Form 943, Form 944, or Schedule H (Form 1040).

Keep all records of employment taxes for at least 4 years. These should be available for IRS review. Your records should include the following information.

• Your employer identification number (EIN).
• Amounts and dates of all wage, annuity, and pension payments.
• Amounts of tips reported to you by your employees.
• Records of allocated tips.
• The fair market value of in-kind wages paid.
• Names, addresses, social security numbers, and occupations of employees and recipients.
• Any employee copies of Forms W-2 and W-2c returned to you as undeliverable.
• Dates of employment for each employee.
• Periods for which employees and recipients were paid while absent due to sickness or injury and the amount and weekly rate of payments you or third-party payers made to them.
• Copies of employees' and recipients' income tax withholding allowance certificates (Forms W-4, W-4P, W-4(SP), W-4S, and W-4V).
• Copies of employees' Earned Income Credit Advance Payment Certificates (Forms W-5 and W-5(SP)).
• Dates and amounts of tax deposits you made and acknowledgment numbers for deposits made by EFTPS.
• Copies of returns filed and confirmation numbers.
• Records of fringe benefits and expense reimbursements provided to your employees, including substantiation.

To notify the IRS of a new business mailing address or business location, file Form 8822-B. Do not mail Form 8822-B with your employment tax return.

You can use certain private delivery services designated by the IRS to mail tax returns and payments. The list includes only the following:

For the IRS mailing address to use if you are using a private delivery service, go to IRS.gov and enter "private delivery service" in the search box.

Your private delivery service can tell you how to get written proof of the mailing date.

You can order employer tax products and information returns online at www.irs.gov/businesses. To order 2012 and 2013 forms, click on the Online Ordering for Information Returns and Employer Returns link. You may also order employer tax products and information returns by calling 1-800-TAX-FORM (1-800-829-3676).

Instead of ordering paper Forms W-2 and W-3, consider filing them electronically using the Social Security Administration's (SSA) free e-file service. Visit the SSA's Employer W-2 Filing Instructions & Information website at www.socialsecurity.gov/employer to register for Business Services Online. You will be able to create Forms W-2 online and submit them to the SSA by typing your wage information into easy-to-use fill-in fields. In addition, you can print out completed copies of Forms W-2 to file with state or local governments, distribute to your employees, and keep for your records. Form W-3 will be created for you based on your
Forms W-2.

The Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) is your voice at the IRS. We help taxpayers whose problems with the IRS are causing financial difficulties; who have tried but haven't been able to resolve their problems with the IRS; and those who believe an IRS system or procedure is not working as it should.

You can contact TAS by calling the TAS toll-free number at 1-877-777-4778 to determine whether you are eligible for assistance. You can also call or write to your local taxpayer advocate, whose phone number and address are listed in your local telephone directory and in Publication 1546, Taxpayer Advocate Service — Your Voice at the IRS. You can file Form 911, Request for Taxpayer Advocate Service Assistance (And Application for Taxpayer Assistance Order), or ask an IRS employee to complete it on your behalf. For more information, go to www.irs.gov/advocate.

Generally, your filing address for Forms 940, 941, 943, 944, 945, and CT-1 depends on the location of your residence or principal place of business and whether or not you are including a payment with your return. There are separate filing addresses for these returns if you are a tax-exempt organization or government entity. See the separate instructions for Forms 940, 941, 943, 944, 945, or CT-1 for the filing addresses.

The Internal Revenue Service is a proud partner with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Photographs of missing children selected by the Center may appear in this publication on pages that would otherwise be blank. You can help bring these children home by looking at the photographs and calling 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) if you recognize a child.

We welcome your comments about this publication and your suggestions for future editions.

You can write to us at the following address:

Internal Revenue Service
Business, Exempt Organizations, and International Tax Forms & Publications Branch
SE:W:CAR:MP:T:B
1111 Constitution Ave. NW, IR-6526
Washington, DC 20224

We respond to many letters by telephone. Therefore, it would be helpful if you would include your daytime phone number, including the area code, in your correspondence.

You can email us at taxforms@irs.gov. Please put "Publication 15" on the subject line. You can also send us comments from www.irs.gov/formspubs. Click on More Information and then click on Comment on Tax Forms and Publications.

Although we cannot respond individually to each comment received, we do appreciate your feedback and will consider your comments as we revise our tax products.

The following is a list of important dates. Also see Publication 509, Tax Calendars.

This publication explains your tax responsibilities as an employer. It explains the requirements for withholding, depositing, reporting, paying, and correcting employment taxes. It explains the forms you must give to your employees, those your employees must give to you, and those you must send to the IRS and SSA. This guide also has tax tables you need to figure the taxes to withhold from each employee for 2013. References to "income tax" in this guide apply only to "federal" income tax. Contact your state or local tax department to determine if their rules are different.

Additional employment tax information is available in Publication 15-A. Publication 15-A includes specialized information supplementing the basic employment tax information provided in this publication. Publication 15-B, Employer's Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits, contains information about the employment tax treatment and valuation of various types of noncash compensation.

Most employers must withhold (except FUTA), deposit, report, and pay the following employment taxes.

• Income tax.
• Social security tax.
• Medicare tax.
• FUTA tax.

There are exceptions to these requirements. See section 15 for guidance. Railroad retirement taxes are explained in the Instructions for Form CT-1.

Employers are responsible for ensuring tax returns are filed and deposits and payments are made, even if the employer retains a third party to perform those functions. The employer remains liable if the third party fails to perform a required action. Employers who enroll in EFTPS will be able to view EFTPS deposits and payments made on their behalf.

The information in this guide applies to federal agencies, except for the rules requiring deposit of federal taxes only at Federal Reserve banks or through the FedTax option of the Government On-Line Accounting Link Systems (GOALS). See the Treasury Financial Manual (I TFM 3-4000) for more information. You can access the Treasury Financial Manual online at www.fms.treas.gov/tfm.

Payments to employees for services in the employ of state and local government employers are generally subject to federal income tax withholding but not FUTA tax. Most elected and appointed public officials of state or local governments are employees under common law rules. See chapter 3 of Publication 963, Federal-State Reference Guide. In addition, wages, with certain exceptions, are subject to social security and Medicare taxes. See section 15 for more information on the exceptions.

If an election worker is employed in another capacity with the same government entity, see Revenue Ruling 2000-6 on page 512 of Internal Revenue Bulletin 2000-6 at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb00-06.pdf.

You can get information on reporting and social security coverage from your local IRS office. If you have any questions about coverage under a section 218 (Social Security Act) agreement, contact the appropriate state official. To find your State Social Security Administrator, visit the National Conference of State Social Security Administrators website at www.ncsssa.org.

The IRS has published final regulations section 301.7701-2(c)(2)(iv), under which QSubs and eligible single-owner disregarded entities are treated as separate entities for employment tax purposes. Under these regulations, eligible single-member entities that have not elected to be taxed as corporations must report and pay employment taxes on wages paid to their employees after December 31, 2008, using the entities' own names and EINs. The disregarded entity will be responsible for its own employment tax obligations on wages paid after December 31, 2008. For wages paid before January 1, 2009, see Publication 15 (Circular E) (For use in 2008).

The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) provides certain former employees, retirees, spouses, former spouses, and dependent children the right to temporary continuation of health coverage at group rates. COBRA generally covers multiemployer health plans and health plans maintained by private-sector employers (other than churches) with 20 or more full and part-time employees. Parallel requirements apply to these plans under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). Under the Public Health Service Act, COBRA requirements apply also to health plans covering state or local government employees. Similar requirements apply under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and under some state laws. For the premium assistance (or subsidy) discussed below, these requirements are all referred to as COBRA requirements.

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), employers are allowed a credit against "payroll taxes" (referred to in this publication as "employment taxes") for providing COBRA premium assistance to assistance eligible individuals. For periods of COBRA continuation coverage beginning after February 16, 2009, a group health plan must treat an assistance eligible individual as having paid the required COBRA continuation coverage premium if the individual elects COBRA coverage and pays 35% of the amount of the premium.

An assistance eligible individual is a qualified beneficiary of an employer's group health plan who is eligible for COBRA continuation coverage during the period beginning September 1, 2008, and ending May 31, 2010, due to the involuntarily termination from employment of a covered employee during the period and elects continuation COBRA coverage. The assistance for the coverage can last up to 15 months.

Administrators of the group health plans (or other entities) that provide or administer COBRA continuation coverage must provide notice to assistance eligible individuals of the COBRA premium assistance.

The 65% of the premium not paid by the assistance eligible individuals is reimbursed to the employer maintaining the group health plan. The reimbursement is made through a credit against the employer's employment tax liabilities. The employer takes the credit on Form 941, line 12a, or Form 944, line 9a, once the 35% of the premium is paid by or on behalf of the assistance eligible individual. The credit is treated as a deposit made on the first day of the return period (quarter or year). In the case of a multiemployer plan, the credit is claimed by the plan, rather than the employer. In the case of an insured plan subject to state law continuation coverage requirements, the credit is claimed by the insurance company, rather than the employer.

Anyone claiming the credit for COBRA premium assistance payments must maintain the following information to support their claim, including the following.

• Information on the receipt of the assistance eligible individuals' 35% share of the premium, including dates and amounts.
• In the case of an insurance plan, a copy of invoice or other supporting statement from the insurance carrier and proof of timely payment of the full premium to the insurance carrier required under COBRA.
• In the case of a self-insured plan, proof of the premium amount and proof of the coverage provided to the assistance eligible individuals.
• Attestation of involuntary termination, including the date of the involuntary termination for each covered employee whose involuntary termination is the basis for eligibility for the subsidy.
• Proof of each assistance eligible individual's eligibility for COBRA coverage and the election of COBRA coverage.
• A record of the SSNs of all covered employees, the amount of the subsidy reimbursed with respect to each covered employee, and whether the subsidy was for one individual or two or more individuals.

For more information, visit IRS.gov and enter "COBRA" in the search box.

If you are required to report employment taxes or give tax statements to employees or annuitants, you need an employer identification number (EIN).

The EIN is a nine-digit number the IRS issues. The digits are arranged as follows: 00-0000000. It is used to identify the tax accounts of employers and certain others who have no employees. Use your EIN on all of the items you send to the IRS and SSA. For more information, see Publication 1635, Employer Identification Number: Understanding Your EIN.

If you do not have an EIN, you may apply for one online. Go to the IRS.gov and click on the Apply for an EIN Online link under Tools. You may also apply for an EIN by calling 1-800-829-4933, or you can fax or mail Form SS-4, Application for Employer Identification Number, to the IRS. Do not use a social security number (SSN) in place of an EIN.

You should have only one EIN. If you have more than one and are not sure which one to use, call 1-800-829-4933 or 1-800-829-4059 (TDD/TTY for persons who are deaf, heard of hearing, or have a speech disability). Give the numbers you have, the name and address to which each was assigned, and the address of your main place of business. The IRS will tell you which number to use.

If you took over another employer's business (see Successor employer in section 9), do not use that employer's EIN. If you have applied for an EIN but do not have your EIN by the time a return is due, file a paper return and write "Applied For" and the date you applied for it in the space shown for the number.