Discussion:Income & Amish
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Discussion Forum Index --> Tax Questions --> Income & Amish
| 3 April 2006 | |
| I am doing a tax return for an Amish client. His daughters worked for a neighbor in their greenhouse. Checks where make out to the father and he received the money. Amish girls don't get to keep their money. Do I just add this to father income. | |
| 3 April 2006 | |
| Not a chance. This would be an anticipatory assignment of income. | |
| 3 April 2006 | |
| Well I quess I just don't need to report it as less than $3000 for the two girl. No tax. | |
| 3 April 2006 | |
| there does seem to the matter of missing FICA here. Somone should be paying something. | |
| 6 June 2006 | |
| "The Amish don't pay FICA." This is a common misconception. The Amish, Mennonites and other pre-approved religious groups are only exempt from FICA after the individual files Form 4029 and is approved. The caveat here is that the individual must be a church member, which occurs at Baptism, usually between the ages of 16 and 22. Even then, a 1040 is due to meet the "self employed" requirements of the law if the individual's "self employed" income is over $400. Also, taxes may be due on the income to the state and local taxing agencies. The real question here is why the girls were not on a payroll at the greenhouse, then there would be no question, as the FICA would be paid from the wages. Are the girls really "self employed?" | |
| 7 June 2006 | |
| a properly executed W-4 (showing EXEMPT) would free the employER from w/h income taxes, but not FICA. Then, wouldn't it be up to the employEE to get back the social security overpayment with the payments sections of her annual 1040, IF she was actually exempt?? | |
| 8 June 2006 | |
| We don't have many (any?) Amish in Washington, so this is not an area I know anything about. But the subject picqued my curiosity and a google search on the topic brought me to this link:
It seems to me from this reading that Wsinclair and Gog are correct. Amish may elect to be exempted from payment of SE tax, but there is no parallel exemption for Amish employers or employees to be exempted from ER/EE FICA taxes. All of which does not lead SW to a proper course of action, since he is not the employer's tax preparer. A solution would be to file returns for the girls reporting the income received on Form 4137, SS & MC Tax on Unreported Tip Income. There would be no income tax but the EE FICA would thereby be paid. | |
| April 13, 2007 | |
| Same client this year one of his daughter worked and she recieved a w-2, with Fed, Ky, and local taxes taken out. NO SS or MC taken out. SO according to Jdugancpa w-2 is wrong??? | |
| 13 April 2007 | |
| Sounds more like employer finally got it right, Sharon. No employee deduction for FICA. JD's position was that the employer should be picking up his share on the 941. | |
| April 13, 2007 | |
| I bet he didn't, but that not my worry.
Does anyone know where I can find good information on this subject Amish & Taxes. So I can help people get this right. | |
| 13 April 2007 | |
| Jdugan linked to the Lee case Sw. That is a Supreme Ct. case, so, I'd start there. | |
| April 13, 2007 | |
| I read it, but I was looking for something simple I could past out. We are getting a large Amish population in the area and they do a lot of babysitting and other work for non-amish family and most people think Amish don't pay taxes. Then they first starting moving here people where allways asking me "You mean they have to file taxes I thought Amish didn't pay taxes." It a real misconception. Most don't owe federal tax just for the fact that they have 6 plus kids. They almost always owe KY. | |
Bottom Line (talk|edits) said: | 23 July 2007 |
| Requires a computer which requires electricity. Lots of different Amish & Mennonites. There's a group of Mennonites in Tennessee that don't use electricity or phones. | |
| 27 July 2007 | |
| I do tax returns for a lot of Amish clients every year. Yes, they e-file. Some groups, however, will not obtain SSNs for their children. This prevents e-filing for those particular returns. IRS will accept paper-filed returns that say AMISH-EXEMPT in the dependent's SSN column, but will not accept e-filed returns on that basis.
Read Form 4029 and its instructions. They give a clear explanation of how the exemption works. Note that if an employer and employee both have obtained Form 4029 approval, neither the employer's or employee's share of FICA need be withheld or paid. The dilemma we face is how to file W-2s for these Amish children that do not have SSNs but work in the neighbor's greenhouse or whatever. Also, some Amish parents can be quite adamant that there be no FICA withheld from their child's pay when the child is working for another Amish-owned business, even though the child does not yet qualify for Form 4029 exemption. The Amish parent wants Form W-2 made out in his name instead, thinking that then the wage will qualify for the exemption. | |
