NDSBMCP students can receive 1/2 credit for viewing the ND Association of Counties Families First Coronavirus Response Act webinar held on Friday, April 17. You may also view the recording at http://www.hrndgov.org/latest-news/ffcra-webinar-recording/ if you were unable to attend. To receive credit please submit a brief paragraph or two to me at rebecca.duben@ndsba.org on what you learned from this webinar.
Below are a few questions from the FFCRA webinar that Brian Stavenger from Eide Bailly have more information on.
There are two questions from the webinar that I have responses to, as follows:
- While I understand that government employers will not get a tax credit for wages paid under the provisions of the FFCRA, it appears that governments do not have to pay FICA taxes on the paid leave under this Act. Can you confirm this? Yes, the current provision under Section 7005 of the FFCRA waives the requirement for employers to pay the employer social security tax (6.2%) imposed under IRC Section 3111(a). The employer is still required to pay the 1.45% FICA tax that represents the portion for Medicare benefits imposed under IRC Section 3111(b). Section 7005 of the Act does not appear to differentiate between employers or impose restrictions that exclude governmental entities – with that said, a governmental employer required to pay FFCRA leave wages should be eligible to exclude payment of the 6.2% FICA tax on those wages paid; this does not apply to wages paid in excess of the leave requirements. The credits related to the FFCRA are for the wages paid and for the 1.45% Medicare tax; both of which governmental employers are not eligible for. At this time our recommendation is for entities to contact an individual versed in employment law to assist with these provisions.
- Regarding the 6.2% employer share of FICA that does not need to be paid in. Is there specific forms that we need to submit when we do our quarterly 941 forms? Right now we are waiting for further guidance to be issued. At this time, it appears that the quarterly Form 941 is used; an employer will simply reduce their federal employment tax deposit amount and should keep adequate records to support the calculation. It is possible that an updated Form 941 will be released for Q2 to assist with reporting.
We continue to monitor everything surrounding COVID-19 and its impact on governments and will be updating our website periodically. We are also planning on hosting additional webinars as more guidance and clarification comes out.
Brian Stavenger bstavenger@eidebailly.com
Kristie Rants krants@eidebailly.com
Helpful handouts from Helen Askim, Williams County HR Director
- DoH Close Contact Chart – just the chart alone
- 2-3 Pay Decision Chart – illustration of how we are calculating 2/3 pay
- Close Contact Mitigation – my memo to departments as we moved people to be spaced 12’ apart
- COVID-19 Leave Form – what we are using to track individual employee absences, schedule changes, etc.
Helen Askim
Director
HR, Communications and GIS
Williams County
701-577-4547