§ 3306.
(b)
Wages
For purposes of this chapter, the term “wages” means all remuneration for employment, including the cash value of all remuneration (including benefits) paid in any medium other than cash; except that such term shall not include—
(1)
that part of the remuneration which, after remuneration (other than remuneration referred to in the succeeding paragraphs of this subsection) equal to $7,000 with respect to employment has been paid to an individual by an employer during any calendar year, is paid to such individual by such employer during such calendar year. If an employer (hereinafter referred to as successor employer) during any calendar year acquires substantially all the property used in a trade or business of another employer (hereinafter referred to as a predecessor), or used in a separate unit of a trade or business of a predecessor, and immediately after the acquisition employs in his trade or business an individual who immediately prior to the acquisition was employed in the trade or business of such predecessor, then, for the purpose of determining whether the successor employer has paid remuneration (other than remuneration referred to in the succeeding paragraphs of this subsection) with respect to employment equal to $7,000 to such individual during such calendar year, any remuneration (other than remuneration referred to in the succeeding paragraphs of this subsection) with respect to employment paid (or considered under this paragraph as having been paid) to such individual by such predecessor during such calendar year and prior to such acquisition shall be considered as having been paid by such successor employer;
(2)
the amount of any payment (including any amount paid by an employer for insurance or annuities, or into a fund, to provide for any such payment) made to, or on behalf of, an employee or any of his dependents under a plan or system established by an employer which makes provision for his employees generally (or for his employees generally and their dependents) or for a class or classes of his employees (or for a class or classes of his employees and their dependents), on account of—
(A)
sickness or accident disability (but, in the case of payments made to an employee or any of his dependents, this subparagraph shall exclude from the term “wages” only payments which are received under a workmen’s compensation law), or
(B)
medical or hospitalization expenses in connection with sickness or accident disability, or
[(3)
Repealed. [Pub. L. 98–21, title III, § 324(b)(3)(B)], Apr. 20, 1983, [97 Stat. 124]]
(4)
any payment on account of sickness or accident disability, or medical or hospitalization expenses in connection with sickness or accident disability, made by an employer to, or on behalf of, an employee after the expiration of 6 calendar months following the last calendar month in which the employee worked for such employer;
(5)
any payment made to, or on behalf of, an employee or his beneficiary—
(A)
from or to a trust described in section 401(a) which is exempt from tax under section 501(a) at the time of such payment unless such payment is made to an employee of the trust as remuneration for services rendered as such employee and not as a beneficiary of the trust, or
(B)
under or to an annuity plan which, at the time of such payment, is a plan described in section 403(a),
(C)
under a simplified employee pension (as defined in section 408(k)(1)), other than any contributions described in section 408(k)(6),
(D)
under or to an annuity contract described in section 403(b), other than a payment for the purchase of such contract which is made by reason of a salary reduction agreement (whether evidenced by a written instrument or otherwise),
(E)
under or to an exempt governmental deferred compensation plan (as defined in section 3121(v)(3)),
(F)
to supplement pension benefits under a plan or trust described in any of the foregoing provisions of this paragraph to take into account some portion or all of the increase in the cost of living (as determined by the Secretary of Labor) since retirement but only if such supplemental payments are under a plan which is treated as a welfare plan under section 3(2)(B)(ii) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974,
(G)
under a cafeteria plan (within the meaning of section 125) if such payment would not be treated as wages without regard to such plan and it is reasonable to believe that (if section 125 applied for purposes of this section) section 125 would not treat any wages as constructively received, or
(H)
under an arrangement to which section 408(p) applies, other than any elective contributions under paragraph (2)(A)(i) thereof,
1
So in original. The comma probably should be a semicolon.
(6)
the payment by an employer (without deduction from the remuneration of the employee)—
(A)
of the tax imposed upon an employee under section 3101, or
(B)
of any payment required from an employee under a State unemployment compensation law,
with respect to remuneration paid to an employee for domestic service in a private home of the employer or for agricultural labor;
(7)
remuneration paid in any medium other than cash to an employee for service not in the course of the employer’s trade or business;
[(8)
Repealed. [Pub. L. 98–21, title III, § 324(b)(3)(B)], Apr. 20, 1983, [97 Stat. 124]]
(9)
remuneration paid to or on behalf of an employee if (and to the extent that) at the time of the payment of such remuneration it is reasonable to believe that a corresponding deduction is allowable under section 217 (determined without regard to section 274(n));
(10)
any payment or series of payments by an employer to an employee or any of his dependents which is paid—
(A)
upon or after the termination of an employee’s employment relationship because of (i) death, or (ii) retirement for disability, and
(B)
under a plan established by the employer which makes provision for his employees generally or a class or classes of his employees (or for such employees or class or classes of employees and their dependents),
other than any such payment or series of payments which would have been paid if the employee’s employment relationship had not been so terminated;
(11)
remuneration for agricultural labor paid in any medium other than cash;
[(12)
Repealed. [Pub. L. 113–295, div. A, title II, § 221(a)(19)(B)(vi)], Dec. 19, 2014, [128 Stat. 4040]]
(13)
any payment made, or benefit furnished, to or for the benefit of an employee if at the time of such payment or such furnishing it is reasonable to believe that the employee will be able to exclude such payment or benefit from income under section 127, 129, 134(b)(4), or 134(b)(5);
(14)
the value of any meals or lodging furnished by or on behalf of the employer if at the time of such furnishing it is reasonable to believe that the employee will be able to exclude such items from income under section 119;
(15)
any payment made by an employer to a survivor or the estate of a former employee after the calendar year in which such employee died;
(16)
any benefit provided to or on behalf of an employee if at the time such benefit is provided it is reasonable to believe that the employee will be able to exclude such benefit from income under section 74(c), 108(f)(4), 117, or 132;
(17)
any payment made to or for the benefit of an employee if at the time of such payment it is reasonable to believe that the employee will be able to exclude such payment from income under section 106(b);
(18)
any payment made to or for the benefit of an employee if at the time of such payment it is reasonable to believe that the employee will be able to exclude such payment from income under section 106(d);
(19)
remuneration on account of—
(A)
a transfer of a share of stock to any individual pursuant to an exercise of an incentive stock option (as defined in section 422(b)) or under an employee stock purchase plan (as defined in section 423(b)), or
(B)
any disposition by the individual of such stock; or
(20)
any benefit or payment which is excludable from the gross income of the employee under section 139B(b).
Except as otherwise provided in regulations prescribed by the Secretary, any third party which makes a payment included in wages solely by reason of the parenthetical matter contained in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2) shall be treated for purposes of this chapter and chapter 22 as the employer with respect to such wages. Nothing in the regulations prescribed for purposes of chapter 24 (relating to income tax withholding) which provides an exclusion from “wages” as used in such chapter shall be construed to require a similar exclusion from “wages” in the regulations prescribed for purposes of this chapter.
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