Smyrna times., 1954-10-07
SELF-EMPLOYED
FARM WORKERS
Social Security Act of Partic-
ular Importance to OPP
orators and Workers
EXTENDS PROTECTION


'HThe Amendments to the So
cial Security Act which President
Eisenhower signed into law on
September 1, 1854, are of particu-
lar Importance to both farm op-
orators and farm workers in Del
aware" Myron Milbouer, Manag-
er of the Wilmington Social Sc
: curity District Office, said. The
new law extends social security
protection to almost all farm
families after this year. Nation
wide, about 100000 self-employ-
ed farm operators and about g.
900 in Delaware will be covered
by the first time, in much the
same way as other self-employed
persons already under the pro-
gram, starting January 1, 1855.
Approximately 100000 more
hired farm workers will also start
building 3ld-age and survivors in
surance protection for themselves
and their families on January I,
1855. There are over 1000 hired
farm employees in the State.
This means that by the time
they have worked through two
more crop years, elderly farm
people may be insured, so that
they can receive monthly social
security checks after age 65. A
farmers family will be protected,
too, so that if, he should die, at
any age, the widow and young
children would receive monthly
payments. For a retired farmer
and his wife, the payments will
be from S45 to almost $163 a
month, depending upon his earn
ings, while the family of an in
sured worker who dies will re-
ceive from S45 to 5000 month.
The amended law does away
with the complicated regularly
employed" test whereby worker
had to be continuously employed
by a farm operator before his
work started to count toward So
cial security. Also eliminated is
the provision that he must then
be employed by the same farm
operator on a full-time basis for
, at least sixty days during the fol-
lowing quarter The amended law
replaces this test with the re-
quirement that, beginning Janu-
ary 1, 1855, an agricultural en-
ployee will be covered by social
security in any calendar year in
which he is paid as much as $100
in cash by one farm employer.
While this amendment to the
Social Security Act will bring
coverage to many more farm
workers, the new law does not
cover the most intermittent or
short-time workers, and does not
impose on the farm employer the
burden of reporting m |
amounts of wages. However, the
farm operator who employs farm
help will have an obligation to
report the employees covered
wages and remit the social Sc
curity tax (two percent deducted
from the workers cash wages;
two percent contributed by the
farm operator.) The farmer will
send the report and the taxes for
his employee to the District Di-
rector of Internal Revenue.
Milbourer pointed out that the
farm operator will earn social Sc
curity credits in the same way as
all other-self-employed people who
are under the program, with one
notable exception. For farm op-
orators whose gross income is less
than $1,000 in a year, there is a
special simplified reporting pro-
cedure. The farm operator will
report his income for social secur-
ity and pay his first social secur-
ity self-employment tax on his
1855 earnings. The social secur-
ity tax is a three percent tax
which is due, with the social Sc
curity income report, at the same
time the farmer pays his income
tax. This date is April Is, 1856.
Farm operators and workers
who have never been in employ
ment or self-employment covered
by social security and have never
had a social security account
card, or have lost their card,
should get in touch with the near
est Social Security District Office,
the district manager declared.