Workers Could Wait a Month for Payroll Tax Cut, If They Even Qualify

Any boost for workers from a payroll tax cut that President Donald Trump favors would take weeks to kick in and the effects could be distributed unevenly.

It would take employers and the Internal Revenue Service until at least Sept. 1 to implement a payroll tax change if Congress were to include it in a stimulus bill passed in early August, said Pete Isberg, a vice president at payroll processor at Automatic Data Processing Inc.

Trump has made the payroll tax cut a priority in negotiations with Republicans and Democrats on another virus relief package as the previous round of stimulus begins running out and a still-raging pandemic squeezes the economy.