DOL page with revised Frequently Asked Questions on the Temporary Agricultural H-2A Program regarding Federal tax withholding applicable to H-2A workers available at OFLC website under the heading H-2A Program & subheading Job Offers, Obligations & Assurances/Rates of Pay.
What federal tax withholdings are applicable to H-2A workers?
Questions regarding the taxation and Federal withholding from H-2A workers fall under the jurisdiction of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). IRS guidance states that foreign agricultural workers temporarily admitted into the United States on H-2A visas are exempt from Federal Unemployment Tax, U.S. Social Security and Medicare taxes on compensation paid to them for services performed in connection with the H-2A visa. Additionally, IRS guidance states that compensation paid to H-2A workers for services performed in connection with the H-2A visa is not considered to be “wages” for purposes of Federal income tax withholding, and is therefore not subject to mandatory withholding.
The IRS requires an employer to begin backup withholding if the H-2A worker does not have a Social Security Number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number and the aggregate annual payments made to the worker are $600 or more. For more information on Federal withholdings for H-2A workers, see the IRS website at http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=96422,00.html. Employers should consult the IRS website to ensure that the IRS has not updated their guidance in regards to this issue.
An H-2A worker may request voluntary Federal income tax withholding. Such a request must be evidenced by a signed form W-4 provided by the worker to the employer. Note: Only Federal income tax is to be withheld. Withholding for Social Security or Medicare is not permitted, and the employer may be held responsible for reimbursement of improperly withheld amounts (see below).
Since State income tax law varies, the employer should consult with the appropriate State tax authorities to determine whether the wages of H-2A workers are subject to state income taxes.
It is important to remember that the H-2A regulations at 20 CFR 655.122(m) and 655.122(p) require the H-2A employer to pay wages when due and to ensure that all wage payments to H-2A workers are received free and clear of any improper deductions. Wages either improperly withheld or withheld based on a voluntary agreement but not remitted to the appropriate agency may be considered improper deductions.
If Federal income tax or U.S. Social Security and Medicare taxes have been improperly withheld from H-2A workers and remitted to the appropriate government agency, the Wage and Hour Division will take into consideration employer reimbursement or assistance provided to the workers to recapture such amounts in determining violations and potential penalties. The employer can evidence reimbursement to H-2A workers and the employer may seek a refund of over reported amounts using Form 941-X, Adjusted Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return or Claim for Refund (see http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f941x.pdf). An alternate method exists in which the employer provides documented assistance to H-2A workers in completing Form 843, Claim for Refund and Request for Abatement (see www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f843.pdf); however, the IRS indicates that workers will need to provide copies of their W-2, H-2A visa, I-94 (indicating date of arrival/departure), and a statement indicating that the withheld taxes need to be returned (either from the employer or employee, who would indicate that this was requested of the employer but not provided).
Additionally, the National Taxpayer Advocate and Low Income Taxpayer Clinics are potential sources of targeted assistance to the worker regarding proper tax withholding, as indicated per http://www.irs.gov/advocate/index.html?portlet=110
Using "Advanced Search" on Immigration.Com
Hello, everyone. This is Rajiv S. Khanna for immigration.com, the Law Offices of Rajiv S. Khanna, P.C.
I wanted to show you the “Advanced Search” feature on immigration.com. I enjoy it because it does focus your search considerably. We have a lot of information. It can be hard to parse through the information.
Every day we do something new and try to get better and better and better. I still have a lot of work to do on the website. The team has a lot of work to do on the website. But we have enough information at least to get you going and keep you in the right direction.
Let me start with the “Advanced Search” feature.
If you press on the “Search” button with nothing in it, just search. It brings you to this button, where you have “Advanced Search.” So you go into “Advanced Search.” The top portion is “Search,” but the bottom portion is “Advanced Search.” Click on “Advanced Search.”
You can search by putting in a search term which contains any of the words, contains a specific phrase, for example, “Adjustment of Status”--that phrase should be there; or containing none of the words. Some words you may not want.
I particularly like the fact that you can search in particular categories. These are categories, which are like tags. When you have tags, like a tag cloud. So these categories that are much more specific. And then, on top of that, you have types. There are content types. For example, let’s say I want to know if there’s a Community Story—you know, people’s experience. We tried to data mine some of these from our own forums.
If there’s a particular Community Story for citizenship. Find and click on the category, “Citizenship” under “Citizenship and Naturalization.” I know what specific story we’re looking for. Let’s put in the word “Detroit.” So I want somebody’s Community Story of what happened during Citizenship/Naturalization in Detroit.
And, after that, when I hit the “Advanced Search” button, I’m led right to the story, “Interview in Detroit.” This is somebody’s story about what happened in Detroit.
Another neat thing that we have is that, if you look at the bottom, we have these tags dimmed. The reason they are dimmed is because I’m not quite happy with the way we have cross-referenced information. But this is just the beginning. I’ve been doing this for the last several years. I’m still not happy, and we’re going to do more, a lot more, making information easily accessible to all of you.
So, let’s look at this. If I click on one of these tags, it will actually bring up the content, all the content, that has been tagged with that particular tag. So, if you look at this, all the particular content that has been tagged. If I look at any content. Let’s say, for example, if I go to “H-1.” I click on “Work Visa,” I go to “H Visa,” and I go to “H Visas for Nurses,” for example. If there’s any tags at the bottom of this and there should be. There’s not going to be a lot of information, but whatever information that we have will be all there for you. Every piece of information that was tagged with that came up.
So, I think this should help you find your way around immigration.com. And I love doing this, and I thank you for being here.