Issue Number: 2011-12

Inside This Issue

  1. Reporting employer health care coverage on Form W-2
  2. New voluntary worker classification settlement program
  3. Reminder: Make federal payroll tax deposits electronically
  4. Foreign agricultural workers
  5. New draft forms and more
  6. Recent guidance

1. Reporting employer health care coverage on Form W-2

An Oct. 31 webinar will explain the Affordable Care Act provision that requires some employers to report health care coverage on Form W-2.

2. New voluntary worker classification settlement program

A new program can help many employers resolve past worker classification issues at a low cost by voluntarily reclassifying their workers.

3. Reminder: Make federal payroll tax deposits electronically

Federal tax deposits must be made electronically. All payments sent to the federal tax deposit mailbox in St. Louis will be returned.

4. Foreign agricultural workers New reporting requirements for foreign agricultural workers temporarily admitted into the United States on H-2A visas take affect in 2011.

5. New draft forms and more
  • DRAFT Form 8655, Reporting Agent Authorization
  • DRAFT Form 940 (Schedule R), Allocation Schedule for Aggregate Form 940 Filers
  • DRAFT Notice 931 (rev. Oct. 2011), Deposit Requirements for Employment Taxes, explains the deposit rules for employment taxes and deposit schedules and other related regulations.


6. Recent guidance

Revenue Procedure 2011-47 provides rules for employees and partners who are reimbursed for expenses while traveling away from home, to substantiate the expenses by per diem allowance rather than actual expenses.

Notice 2011-81 provides the 2011-2012 special per diem rates for taxpayers to use to substantiate the amount of ordinary and necessary business expenses incurred while traveling away from home.

Revenue Procedure 2011-40 updates the specifications for filing 2011 Forms 1097, 1098, 1099, 3921, 3922, 5498, 8935, and W-2G through the IRS Filing Information Returns Electronically (FIRE) system.