The Check Date Determines the Taxable Year by: Best Business Payroll
Yes, you most certainly can earn wages in any given year and be paid in the following year.
The IRS only considers the check date when figuring which quarter or year the wages belong to for payroll tax filing purposes.
When you consider that most paychecks are paid in arrears (you are paid not on during the week you actually worked, but the week(s) previous to that) almost everyone who works the last week of December is paid in January of the next year.
Exceptions to this do happen, but the check DATE, not when the work was actually done, determines the taxable year for wages paid.
In addition, it is possible to perform work in, say, June, but not be paid until January (if someone is a 1099 subcontractor, for example). This money paid would also be considered earned in the year in which the check was dated.
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