Designation of Payor To Perform Acts Required of an Employer

SUMMARY: This document contains final regulations under section 3504 of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) providing circumstances under which a person (payor) is designated to perform the acts required of an employer and is liable for employment taxes with respect to wages or compensation paid by the payor to individuals performing services for the payor's client pursuant to a service agreement between the payor and the client.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Effective date: These final regulations are effective on March 31, 2014.

Applicability date: For dates of applicability, see SEC 31.3504-2(f) of these regulations.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeanne Royal Singley at (202) 317-6798 (not a toll-free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

This document contains amendments to 26 CFR part 31 under section 3504 of the Code. On January 29, 2013, Treasury and the IRS published a notice of proposed rulemaking (REG-102966-10, 78 FR 6056) (the proposed regulations) in the Federal Register under section 3504 of the Code. Treasury and the IRS received written and electronic comments responding to the proposed regulations. All comments were considered and are available for public inspection at http://www.regulations.gov or upon request. After consideration of all the public comments, the proposed regulations are adopted as amended by this Treasury decision. The public comments and revisions are discussed in this preamble.

Explanation of Provisions

Under section 3504, if a payor pays wages or compensation to employees who are employed by one or more employers, the Secretary is authorized, in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary, to designate such payor to perform acts required of employers under the Code. Section 3504 further provides that, except as otherwise prescribed by the Secretary, all provisions of law (including penalties) applicable with respect to an employer are applicable to the payor so designated, but the employer for whom the payor acts remains subject to the provisions of law (including penalties) applicable with respect to employers. Accordingly, both an employer and the payor designated in accordance with regulations under section 3504 are liable for the employment taxes on wages or compensation paid by the payor.

The IRS has established administrative procedures under which a payor may request authorization on Form 2678, Employer/Payer Appointment of Agent, to file employment tax returns and perform other acts for the employer. The proposed regulations provide rules regarding the employment tax obligations under certain three-party arrangements in which a payor enters into an agreement with the employer (client) to perform the employment tax obligations of the client with regard to wages or compensation paid by the payor to individuals performing services for the client, but the payor does not use the established IRS administrative procedures to request authorization to file employment tax returns and performs other acts for the client.

Under the proposed regulations, a payor is designated under section 3504 to perform the acts of an employer in any case in which the payor enters into a service agreement with a client. For this purpose, the term service agreement means a written or oral agreement pursuant to which the payor (1) asserts it is the employer (or "co-employer") of individuals performing services for the client, (2) pays wages or compensation to the individuals for services the individuals perform for the client, and (3) assumes responsibility to collect, report, and pay, or assumes liability for, any employment taxes with respect to the wages or compensation paid by the payor to the individuals who perform services for the client.

The proposed regulations also provide exceptions to when a payor is designated under section 3504 to perform the acts of an employer even if the payor has entered into an agreement that includes all of the components of a service agreement. The proposed regulations also include numerous examples to illustrate the rules regarding designation.

Summary of Comments and Explanation of Revisions

The IRS received comments in response to the proposed regulations. The majority of the comments expressed support for the regulations and had no suggested changes. Other comments were outside the scope of section 3504 and these regulations.

One commenter suggested deleting the term "agent" when describing the third party payor that is designated to perform the acts of an employer. The commenter indicated that many three-party arrangements are not structured as common law agency relationships and that designating the payor as an agent for purposes of these regulations may raise implications for other unrelated issues. While the proposed regulations state that the designation of a payor under the proposed regulations has no impact in determining the payor's status for other purposes of the Code, Treasury and the IRS agree that describing the payor designated to perform the acts of an employer as an "agent" may be unnecessary, given that section 3504 grants the Secretary authority to designate a "fiduciary, agent, or other person" to perform such acts. Accordingly, the final regulations adopt this change.

Another commenter asked for clarification of the application of section 3504 to payors of group disability income benefits under an administrative service contract (commonly referred to as an administrative service only agreement or an "ASO agreement") with an employer. The comment was in response to a specific request in the notice of proposed rule-making asking whether the proposed definition of service agreement inappropriately designates or fails to designate a payor to perform acts of an employer. The commenter explained that under an ASO agreement, an insurer that administers employee disability claims may agree to withhold employment taxes on the taxable disability payments and report and pay the employment taxes to the IRS under the insurer's employer identification number. The commenter stated that in recent years, some insurance companies have required that the employer designate the insurer as an agent on Form 2678 when entering into new ASO agreements. The commenter asked whether performing services under an ASO agreement makes the insurer an agent under section 3504 that is required to file Form 2678. The commenter also asked for an example to be included in these final regulations to clarify whether filing Form 2678 is required to perform employment tax obligations under an ASO agreement.

These regulations address the designation of a payor to perform the acts of an employer when the formal IRS administrative procedures to designate an agent (i.e., filing Form 2678) are not followed. Accordingly, it is beyond the scope of these regulations to address whether a Form 2678 must be filed in order to report and pay employment taxes in any particular situation.

However, SEC 32.1 of the Employment Tax Regulations provides specific rules for reporting employment taxes with respect to payments made by a third party on account of sickness or accident disability (often called "sick pay"). While those rules are unaffected by section 3504 or these regulations, Treasury and the IRS agree a clarification of the interaction of those rules and these regulations would be helpful.

Specifically, under SEC 32.1, a third-party payor of sick pay may be treated as an employer or as an agent of the employer with regard to the employment tax obligations, depending on the circumstances of the arrangement. The proposed regulations contain an exception at SEC 31.3504-2(d)(3) that a payor is not designated to perform the acts required of an employer for any wages or compensation paid by the payor to the individual(s) performing services for a client if the payor is the employer. However, the proposed regulations are not clear whether the SEC 31.3504-2(d)(3) exception for payors that are employers applies if the third-party payor of the sick pay is treated as an employer under SEC 32.1. To clarify that a third-party payor of sick pay that is treated as an employer under SEC 32.1 will not be designated under these regulations to perform the acts of an employer with regard to the sick pay, these final regulations add an additional exception at SEC 31.3504-2(d)(4) for payors treated as employers under section 3121(a)(2)(A).

No changes were needed, however, to address situations where the third-party payor of the sick pay is the agent of the employer under SEC 32.1. Under those circumstances, these regulations do not apply because the payments are not made pursuant to a service agreement within the meaning of these regulations. The first component of a service agreement is that the payor asserts that it is the employer of the individuals performing services for its client, such as by filing employment tax returns using its own EIN that include wages paid to the individuals performing services for the client. A third-party payor of sick pay that is treated as an agent of the employer under SEC 32.1 does not file employment tax returns under its own EIN to report and pay the taxes on the sick pay or otherwise assert that it is the employer. Thus, the arrangement under which the payor pays the sick pay as an agent would not be a service agreement and these regulations would not apply to designate the payor to perform the acts of the employer.

--This is a summary of a Federal Register article originally published on the page number listed below--

Final regulations.

CFR Part: "26 CFR Part 31"

RIN Number: "RIN 1545-BJ31"

Citation: "79 FR 17860"

Document Number: "TD 9662"

Federal Register Page Number: "17860"

"Rules and Regulations"