Glossary
Trust fund taxes
Also called: payroll trust fund · withheld payroll taxes
Trust fund taxes are the amounts withheld from employee wages — income tax and the employee share of FICA — that the business holds on the government’s behalf rather than owning.
The distinction matters more than any other in payroll. The employer’s own share of payroll tax is a business liability like any other. The withheld portion was never company money at all; it was deducted from someone’s wages and is being held in trust until it is remitted.
Because of that, failing to pass it on is treated very differently from other unpaid bills. Federal law allows the withheld portion to be assessed personally against any person who was responsible for collecting and paying it and wilfully failed to do so — which can reach an owner, a partner, an officer or a bookkeeper with cheque-signing authority. "Wilfully" generally means knowing the money was owed and paying someone else instead.
Why it matters to a contractor
It is the one liability in a contracting business that follows a person rather than the company, and it does not necessarily disappear if the company does. Funding a tight week out of withheld payroll taxes is the most available lever in the room and the most damaging one.
Work it out on your numbers
See also