Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 35 - Department of Revenue › Part 3 - Income and Franchise › Subpart 11 - Withholding › Chapter 02 - Withholding Wages Defined › Section 35-3-11-02-101 - Certain specific items

Current through June 25, 2024
1. Pensions and
				  retirement pay. In general, pensions and retired pay are wages subject to
				  withholding. However, no withholding is required with respect to amounts paid
				  to an employee upon retirement which are not taxable as annuities under the
				  provisions of Section
				  27-7-15
				  nor upon annuities, the income from which is specifically exempt by statute, or
				  regulations with respect thereto. So-called pensions awarded by one to whom no
				  services have been rendered are mere gifts or gratuities and do not constitute
				  wages. Amounts received as retirement pay for service in the Armed Forces of
				  the United States are not subject to withholding. Amounts received as
				  disability benefits by veterans of the armed forces are not subject to
				  withholding.
2. Traveling and other
				  expenses. Amounts paid specifically - either as advances or reimbursements -
				  for traveling or other bona fide ordinary and necessary expenses incurred or
				  reasonably expected to be incurred in the business of the employer are not
				  wages and are not subject to withholding. Traveling and other reimbursed
				  expenses must be identified either by making a separate payment or by
				  specifically indicating the separate amounts where both wages and expense
				  allowances are combined in a single payment.
3. Vacation allowance. Amounts of so-called
				  "vacation allowances" paid to an employee constitutes wages. Thus, the salary
				  of an employee on vacation, paid notwithstanding his absence from work,
				  constitutes wages subject to withholding.
4. Dismissal payments. Any payments made by
				  an employer to an employee on account of dismissal, that is, involuntary
				  separation from the service of the employer, constitute wages subject to
				  withholding regardless of whether the employer is legally bound by contract,
				  statute, or otherwise to make such payments.
5. Deductions by employer from remuneration
				  of an employee. Any amount deducted by an employer from the remuneration of a
				  employee is considered to be a part of the employee's remuneration and is
				  considered to be paid to the employee as remuneration at the time that the
				  deduction is made.
6. Payment by an
				  employer of employee's tax, or employee's contribution under a state law. The
				  term "wages" includes the amount paid by an employer on behalf of an employee
				  (without deduction from the remuneration of, or other reimbursement from, the
				  employee) on account of any payment required for an employee under a state
				  unemployment compensation law, or on account of any tax imposed upon the
				  employee by any taxing authority, including federal and state income
				  taxes.
7. Value of meals and
				  lodging. The value of any meals or lodging furnished to an employee by his
				  employer is not subject to withholding if the value of the meals or lodging is
				  excludable from the gross income of the employee.
8. Facilities or privileges. Ordinarily,
				  facilities or privileges (such as entertainment, medical services, or so-called
				  "courtesy" discounts on purchases), furnished or offered by an employer to his
				  employees generally, are not considered as wages subject to withholding if such
				  facilities or privileges are of relatively small value and are offered or
				  furnished by the employer merely as a means of promoting the health, good will,
				  contentment, or efficiency of his employees.
9. Tips or gratuities. Tips or gratuities
				  paid directly to an employee by a customer of an employer are subject to
				  withholding.
10. Fees paid a public
				  official.
a. Authorized fees paid to public
				  officials such as notaries public, clerks of court, sheriffs, etc. for services
				  rendered in the performances of their official duties are excepted from wages
				  and hence are not subject to withholding. However, salaries paid such officials
				  of government, or by a government, or by a government agency or
				  instrumentality, are subject to withholding.
b. Amounts paid to precinct workers for
				  services performed at election booths in state, county, and municipal elections
				  and fees paid to jurors and witnesses are in the nature of fees paid to public
				  officials and therefore are not subject to withholding.
c. Supplemental wage payments. If
				  supplemental wages, such as bonuses, commissions, or overtime, are paid at the
				  same time as regular wages, the income tax to be withheld should be determined
				  as if the aggregate of the supplemental and regular wages were a single wage
				  payment for the regular payroll period. If supplemental wages are paid at a
				  different time, the employer may determine the tax to be withheld by
				  aggregating the supplemental wages either with the regular wages for the
				  current payroll period or with the regular wages for the last preceding payroll
				  period within the same calendar year. However, if income tax has been withheld
				  from the employee's regular wages, the employer may withhold from the
				  supplemental wages as if no exemption had been claimed.