An agency that keeps tabs on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) says the IRS ought to do more to monitor the companies that help employers handle tasks associated with paying federal employment taxes.
Officials at the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) talk about problems with monitoring employers' "third-party payers" in a report recently published on the TIGTA website.
TIGTA officials look at how the IRS handles withholding tax enforcement when payroll services, professional employer organizations (PEOs) and other types of outside payers are involved.
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Insurance agents and brokers may run into the outside payers when they are setting up worksite or voluntary group insurance programs that give workers the ability to make payments through payroll deduction systems. At some employers, PEO may take charge of buying and offering benefits such as health insurance, disability insurance and life insurance.