Amounts Paid to Employees for Sick and Family Leave Wages Are to be Reported on W-2s

Yesterday, July 8, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued Notice 2020-54, which provides guidance to employers on reporting qualified sick and family leave wages paid to employees under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). Enacted this past March 2020, the FFCRA generally requires employers with fewer than 500 employees to provide paid leave due to certain circumstances related to COVID-19. Notice 2020-54 directs employers to “separately state” each of the paid sick and family leave wage amounts either in Box 14 of Form W-2 or in a statement that accompanies the Form W-2.

The guidance provides employers with adaptable model language for use in the Form W-2 instructions for employees. An excerpt of that language is as follows:

“Included in Box 14, if applicable, are amounts paid to you as qualified sick leave wages or qualified family leave wages under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. Specifically, up to three types of paid qualified sick leave wages or qualified family leave wages are reported in Box 14:

• Sick leave wages subject to the $511 per day limit because of care you required;
• Sick leave wages subject to the $200 per day limit because of care you provided to another; and
• Emergency family leave wages.”

The Notice goes on to state that the wage amount required to be reported by employers on Form W-2 will provide self-employed individuals who are also employees with the information necessary to determine the amount of any sick and family leave equivalent credits they may claim in their self-employed capacities. We recommend that employers review the Notice’s model language for their Form W-2 instructions.