Employment Taxes

If you have employees, you must withhold various taxes from your employees' pay. Most employers must withhold their employees' share of social security and Medicare taxes along with state and federal income taxes. You may also need to pay certain employment taxes from your own funds. These include your share of social security and Medicare taxes as an employer, along with unemployment taxes.

You should treat the taxes you withhold from your employees' pay as wages on your tax return. You can deduct the employment taxes you must pay from your own funds as taxes.

Example. You pay your employee $18,000 a year. However, after you withhold various taxes, your employee receives $14,500. You also pay an additional $1,500 in employment taxes. You should deduct the full $18,000 as wages. You can deduct the $1,500 you pay from your own funds as taxes.

For more information on employment taxes, see Publication 15.

Unemployment fund taxes. As an employer, you may have to make payments to a state unemployment compensation fund or to a state disability benefit fund. Deduct these payments as taxes.

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