SECTION 3. SCOPE

.01 This revenue procedure applies to employee consents that are used by an employer to support a claim for refund of overpaid FICA or RRTA taxes. Section 31.6402(a)–2 provides rules under which a refund claim for an overpayment of FICA or RRTA tax may be made. For ease of reading, the remainder of the revenue procedure will discuss FICA taxes and wages, but this revenue procedure applies equally to RRTA taxes and RRTA compensation. However, any references to Medicare tax or FICA tax in this revenue procedure do not include Additional Medicare Tax imposed by § 3101(b)(2).

.02 Under § 3102(f), an employer is responsible for withholding the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax from the wages it pays to an employee in excess of $200,000 in a calendar year. However, under § 31.6402(a)– 2(a)(1)(iii), employers may claim a refund of overpaid Additional Medicare Tax only if the employer did not withhold the overpaid Additional Medicare Tax from the employee’s wages. An employee may claim a refund of overpaid Additional Medicare Tax on Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, or, if the employee has previously filed Form 1040 for the year, on Form 1040X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return. Since employees may not be aware that a refund will not include overpaid Additional Medicare Tax, any employer request for consent must clearly inform the employee that the employee cannot authorize the employer to claim a refund on the employee’s behalf for any overpaid Additional Medicare Tax. See section 6.01 of this revenue procedure.

1For ease of reading, the revenue procedure will refer to “claim,” “claim for refund,” or “refund claim” interchangeably, and these terms will include a claim for credit.

2Some of the comments received were beyond the scope of this revenue procedure and are not addressed in this revenue procedure. Specifically, several commentators requested guidance on when consent is required under certain identified fact patterns, rather than addressing the required content of a request for consent or the employee consent. Those comments may be addressed in future guidance.

Bulletin No. 2017–14 1061 April 3, 2017