Wisconsin Administrative Code › Department of Revenue › Chapter Tax 2 - Income Taxation, Returns, Records And Gross Income › Section Tax 2.90 - Withholding; wages

Current through June 24, 2024
(1) The term "wages" means all remuneration
			 for services performed by an employee for an employer unless specifically
			 excepted under s.
			 71.63,
			 Stats.
(2) The name by which
			 remuneration for services is designated is immaterial. Thus, salaries, fees,
			 bonuses, commissions on sales, commissions on insurance premiums, pensions and
			 retirement pay, and supplemental unemployment benefits are wages within the
			 meaning of the statute if paid as compensation for services performed by the
			 employee for the employee's employer.
(3) The basis upon which the remuneration is
			 paid is immaterial in determining whether the remuneration constitutes wages.
			 Thus it may be paid on the basis of piecework, or a percentage of the profits,
			 and may be paid hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or annually.
(4) Generally the medium in which the
			 remuneration is paid is also immaterial. It may be paid in cash or in something
			 other than cash, as, for example, stocks, bonds or other forms of property.
			 However, s.
			 71.63(6)
			 (i), Stats., excludes from wages remuneration
			 paid in any medium other than cash for services not in the course of the
			 employer's trade or business. If services are paid for in a medium other than
			 cash, the fair market value of the thing taken in payment is the amount to be
			 included as wages. If the services were rendered at a stipulated price, in the
			 absence of evidence to the contrary, such price will be presumed to be the fair
			 value of the remuneration received. If a corporation transfers to its employees
			 its own stock as remuneration for services rendered by the employee, the amount
			 of such remuneration is the fair market value of the stock at the time of the
			 transfer.
(5) Remuneration for
			 services, unless the remuneration is specifically excepted by the statute,
			 constitutes wages even though at the time paid the relationship of employer and
			 employee no longer exists between the person in whose employ the services were
			 performed and the individual who performed them.
(7) 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.
(8) Amounts of so-called "vacation
			 allowances" paid to an employee constitutes wages. Thus the salary of an
			 employee on vacation, paid notwithstanding the absence from work, constitutes
			 wages.
(9) Any payments made by an
			 employer to an employee on account of dismissal, that is, involuntary
			 separation from the service of the employer, constitutes wages regardless of
			 whether the employer is legally bound by contract, statute or otherwise to make
			 such payments.
(10) Any amount
			 deducted by an employer from the remuneration of an 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 the deduction is made. It is immaterial
			 that any act or law requires or permits such deductions.
(11) 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 tax
			 imposed upon the employee by any taxing authority.
(12) The value of any meals or lodging
			 furnished to an employee by an employer is not subject to withholding if the
			 value of the meals or lodging is excludable from the gross income of the
			 employee under the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, as defined in s.
			 71.01(6),
			 Stats.
(13) Ordinarily, facilities
			 or privileges, such as entertainment, medical services, or so-called "courtesy"
			 discounts on purchases furnished or offered by an employer to employees
			 generally, are not considered as wages subject to withholding, if the
			 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 employees.
(14) Tips or gratuities paid directly to an
			 employee by a customer of an employer, are excepted from withholding only if
			 the tips are non-cash tips or if the cash tips received during the course of a
			 month are less than $20.
(15)
			 Withholding is not required:
(a) Upon amounts
			 paid to an employee by the employee's employer under a wage continuation plan
			 for a period during which the employee is absent from work on account of
			 personal injuries or sickness if such amounts are exempt from withholding
			 taxation under the Internal Revenue Code, as defined in s.
			 71.01(6),
			 Stats.
(b) When, as provided by s.
			 71.66(3),
			 Stats., an employee certifies to an employer that the employee incurred no
			 liability for income tax for the preceding taxable year and anticipates not
			 incurring a liability for the current taxable year.