IRS Releases 2026 Publication 15-A

The Details

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has posted the 2026 version of Publication 15-A, the Employer's Supplemental Tax Guide located at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15a.pdf.

IRS Publication 15-A supplements IRS Publication 15 (Circular E), by providing more specialized and detailed employment tax information on certain topics covered in IRS Publication 15.

There are sections in IRS Publication 15-A on: (1) Who Are Employees; (2) Employee or Independent Contractor; (3) Employees of Exempt Organizations; (4) Religious Exemptions and Special Rules for Ministers; (5) Wages and Other Compensation; (6) Sick Pay Reporting; (7) Special Rules for Paying Taxes; and (8) Federal Income Tax Withholding on Retirement Payments and Annuities.

Highlights under “What’s New” are as follows:

Social security and Medicare taxes for 2026. The social security tax rate is 6.2% each for the employee and employer. The social security wage base limit is $184,500. The Medicare tax rate is 1.45% each for the employee and employer, unchanged from 2025. There is no wage base limit for Medicare tax. Social security and Medicare taxes apply to the wages of household workers you pay $3,000 or more in cash wages in 2026. Social security and Medicare taxes apply to election workers who are paid $2,500 or more in cash or an equivalent form of compensation in 2026.

Moving expense reimbursement. P.L. 119-21, commonly known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, permanently eliminates the exclusion for qualified moving expense reimbursements from your employee’s income. However, the exclusion is available in the case of a member of the U.S. Armed Forces on active duty who moves because of a permanent change of station due to a military order. The exclusion applies only to reimbursement of moving expenses that the member could deduct if they had paid or incurred them without reimbursement.

P.L. 119-21 also makes the exclusion available to an employee or new appointee of the intelligence community (as defined in section 3 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003)) (other than a member of the Armed Forces of the United States) who moves pursuant to a change in assignment which requires relocation. The exclusion applies only to reimbursement of moving expenses that an intelligence community employee or appointee could deduct if they had paid or incurred them without reimbursement.

Employer contributions to Trump accounts. P.L. 119-21 allows for a new type of traditional individual retirement account to be established for a child who has not obtained age 18 at the end of the year the account is established, known as a Trump account. This account has an annual contribution limit of $5,000 (other than exempt contributions), which will be indexed for inflation after tax year 2027. Beginning July 4, 2026, employers may contribute up to $2,500 a year, which will be indexed for inflation after tax year 2027, toward the $5,000 contribution limit to the Trump account of an employee or of a dependent of an employee, and the amount will be excluded from the gross income of the employee if paid pursuant to a Trump account contribution program.