*** Warning! Warning! Danger Will Robinson! Accounting lingo ahead! ***
For reasons that escape me, the IRS has made it as difficult as possible to pay business taxes. The only acceptable way to pay most federal payroll taxes and corporate income taxes is to take deposit a check at your bank. (I'm ignoring e-filing for now; that's another matter entirely.)
That check must be accompany a Form 8109 Federal Deposit Coupon. Strangely, the IRS has made it almost impossible to actually get these coupons. The IRS is supposed to automatically issue companies coupon books with all the business information already filled out. However, they are often slow in doing this; sometimes the books never come at all. If you don't have any pre-filled forms you're supposed to use a blank form. Teeny problem: this form is not available online and photocopies are not accepted. Your only recourse is to try to get some blank forms from an IRS employee. In my experience, most IRS employees guard these forms as if their life depended on it.
The end result? People who are genuinely trying to pay their taxes on time get totally freaked out by the hassle.
It's just a thought, but shouldn't the IRS be making it as easy as possible for you to actually give them the money on time? Especially since you'll get penalized if you don't?
ARGGGhHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
more penalties = more money
Posted by: Kristin | Tuesday, January 11, 2005 at 10:51 AM
If a church has no other employees than its pastor, it doesn't have to file quarterly tax returns. However, if that same church has a paid pastor and even one part-time employee, then the church has to file quarterly even if that employee's (a janitor or pianist, perhaps) pay is just $1,500 a year, say. And they can make those forms hard for churches to come by, as well!
Posted by: Joel Thomas | Friday, January 14, 2005 at 02:14 AM
Actually, those forms are available online. I don't consider that a big deal. It's no more burdensome on churches than it is on anyone else.
My biggest problem with the way churches are treated is that they aren't supposed to do income tax withholding on ministers like they do for other employees and churches are not allowed to pay half of the FICA on ministers like they do on other employees. It's true that some ministers are exempt from Social Security altogether, but I can't think of any good reason to use the benefit provided to some as justification for damaging the rest.
Posted by: Jeffrey Collins | Friday, January 14, 2005 at 09:33 AM