Employment Taxes are one of business owner’s tax-related responsibilities when they hire employees. If you’re a business owner and have employees, you are responsible for withholding employment taxes from your employees every pay period. Employment taxes, aka, payroll taxes, include income taxes, social security taxes, Medicare taxes, and federal unemployment tax. Some states and local governments may require you to withhold state or local employment taxes.
You must collect a W-4 form from each employee that you hire. Based on the information from this form, you can determine the amount of taxes to deduct from employees’ pay checks. These taxes are usually due quarterly or monthly. At the end of every year, you must issue a W-2 form to each employee to show their gross income and their withholdings. Typically, the term “employment taxes” encompasses these series of tax responsibilities of the business owner when they have employees.