The White House has pitched its payroll tax holiday as a boon to American workers that would fatten their paychecks and provide a jolt to the economy. But for companies large and small, the presidential intervention poses difficult legal and logistical questions that only add to the uncertainty that executives and workers are contending with during the pandemic, the New York Times reported. Since Trump, in an order he signed on Saturday, is only suspending the tax, not cutting it, the money that companies would cease to withhold from their employees’ earnings would have to be paid next year, barring legislative action. For companies, this would require some complex accounting maneuvering. For employees, it could mean an unwanted tax bill in 2021, making the break more of a headache. “This is not a holiday, because there’s a bill at the other end of it,” said Isaac Boltansky, an analyst with the research firm Compass Point. The Treasury Department is expected to release guidance about how the payroll tax suspension will work. Thus far, businesses have been cool to the idea. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in a terse statement on Saturday that Trump’s executive actions, though “well intentioned,” were “no substitute for congressional action.”
