Deducting payroll taxes on deferred compensation.

• Author: Gibbs, Paul K.

The IRS recently determined that Sec. 461, rather than Sec. 404, governs the timing of the deduction for payroll taxes on deferred compensation by an accrual-basis taxpayer.

Background

Generally under Sec. 461(a), a deduction is taken into account in the proper tax year under the taxpayer's accounting method. Regs. Sec. 1.4611(a)(2) allows an accrual-method taxpayer to take expenses into account (as a deduction or capital item) in the tax year in which all the events have occurred that determine the fact of the liability and the amount can be determined with reasonable accuracy (the all-events test).

The all-events test is met no earlier than when economic performance occurs; see Sec. 461(h)(1). For liabilities arising out of the performance of services for a taxpayer, economic performance occurs as such services are performed; however, Regs. Sec. 1.4614 (d) (2) (iii) provides that the economic-performance requirement is satisfied for employee compensation if an amount is otherwise deductible under Sec. 404.

Under Sec. 404(a), compensation paid to an employee under a plan deferring the receipt of such payments is not deductible until paid. However, Temp. Regs. Sec. 1.404(b)-1T, Q&A2, provides that salary under an employment contract and a bonus under a year-end bonus declaration are not considered paid under a plan, method or arrangement deferring the receipt of compensation to the extent that such salary or bonus is received by the employee on or before the end of the applicable 2 1/2-month period beyond the taxpayer's year-end; see Avon Products, Inc., 97 F3d 1435 (Fed. Cir. 1996). Thus, if an amount is paid more than 2 1/2 months after the end of the employer's tax year, it generally is presumed to be deferred compensation and, thus, subject to Sec. 404.

Divergent Positions

Before the enactment of the economic-performance rules under Sec. 461(h), the IRS had issued Rev. Rul. 69-587, which concluded that, under the all-events test, an accrual-method employer generally cannot deduct payroll taxes payable with respect to vested bonuses and vacation pay accrued but unpaid at year-end until the tax year in which the bonuses and vacation pay are paid.

In Eastman Kodak Co., 534 F2d 252 (Ct. Cl. 1976), the court held that, under the all-events test, the fact of the employer's liability for the taxes was established as an automatic consequence of its definite and legal obligation to pay the underlying year-end accrued wages, even though no...