News
ISSA Coronavirus Government Response Update—What the Payroll Tax Deferral Means for You
August 31, 2020
Welcome to the ISSA Coronavirus Government Response Update. This information is intended to keep our members up to date on government affairs related to the cleaning industry and COVID-19. Today’s update touches on what the payroll tax deferral means for you and your business, U.S. companies reporting a new wave of layoffs, ISSA’s 2020 Advocacy Survey, and more.
What the Payroll Tax Deferral Action Means for You
The U.S. Treasury Department released guidance Friday evening informing companies and workers how U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed tax holiday will apply to them. Companies can stop withholding employees’ payroll taxes starting September 1, although workers will have to pay the taxes by the end of April 2021, CNN reported. The new guidance, released together with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, applies only to those whose bi-weekly paychecks are less than US$4,000, the equivalent of $104,000 a year. The guidance comes after President Trump’s August 8 executive action giving workers a tax holiday and leaves open the possibility of forgiving the deferred tax at a later date.
Companies Plan Fresh Layoffs
MGM Resorts is laying off 18,000 people as an unchecked pandemic leaves economic scars across a broad swath of U.S. industries, particularly those that rely on healthy crowds of people. The layoffs at MGM, which amount to about a quarter of its U.S staff of about 70,000, caps a wave of job cuts and buyouts last week across a broad array of industries, according to the Associated Press. Economists warn that sizable layoffs will continue and any recovery is likely to falter as long as the virus rages and Congress doesn’t come up with additional financial aid for the unemployed, as well as for financially-strapped state and local governments.
Take ISSA’s 2020 Advocacy Survey
At ISSA, we continue to build and strengthen our Government Affairs Department so that we can best represent the interests of our members before state and federal policymakers and regulators. Your responses to our 2020 Advocacy Survey will help us gauge member interest in our advocacy efforts, as well as help guide and shape those efforts moving forward.
Other links of interest
- Save Your Seat—A Government Affairs Update on the Cleaning Industry & COVID-19
- Registration Now Open—Cleaning Products: A Regulatory Review
- Support Advocacy on Behalf of the Cleaning Industry—Invest in the ISSA Advocacy Fund
- How the Treasury Department Is Taking Action
- U.S. Department of Labor: COVID-19 and the American Workplace
