Fillable Form SS-16

What is Form SS-16?

Form SS-16, Certificate of Election of Coverage under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act, is a short form issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for a religious order whose members are required to take a vow of poverty.

The IRS SS 16 form allows a religious order to single out social security and Medicare coverage on the vow of poverty to help the members of the order perform their duties better.

The IRS Form SS-16 is a certificate of election. This means that it cannot be revoked once it is filed and that all current members of the religious order and those who will join in the future will have the effects of this certificate on their duties. IRS Form SS 16 also means that when takes full effect, the religious order will consider the duties that each member exercises will be considered to be performed as an employee of the order itself. Thus, the religious order must pay the social security and Medicare taxes on the employees’ and employer’s wages, as defined later. All these taxes must be reported to Form 941, Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return, and Form 941-X Adjusted Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return.

Tax form SS-16 can also be used to make the social security and Medicare coverages retroactive. This means that the effective date of the coverage takes place before the actual filing of the certificate. In this case, the coverage will only apply to people that meet these criteria:

• Those who were active members in the quarter during the effective period, when the services were performed.
• Those who are alive on the first day that the certificate has been filed.

When coverage is made retroactive, the religious order must report and pay the total employer and employee social security and Medicare taxes for the effective quarter and all subsequent quarters before the quarter when the certificate is filed. When paying these retroactive coverages, make sure that you file Form 941 or Form 941-x (whichever is appropriate) for each quarter.

Form 941 and Form 941-x

When the IRS tax form SS 16 has made retroactive coverages, there are two ways to file these coverages:

• File Form 941 if the retroactive quarters a 941 Form has never been filed in those quarters.
• File Form 941-X is there are already original Form 941 copies filed for those quarters.

For more information concerning the filing of Forms 941 and 941-X refer to Copy B and Copy D of the form (Pages 2 and 4).

Definitions

Below are a pair of terms that must be defined to clarify some of the information about the SS 16 tax form.

Member of a Religious Order

A member of a religious order can be defined by three criteria for this form:

• They must be subject to a vow of poverty
• They must perform the services usually required of an active member of the order
• They must not be of retirement age or total disability

Wages for Member’s Services

For this certificate, the wages that are subject to social security Medicare taxes include all pay that the order gives a member for their services. Provided amenities such as lodging, and clothing can also be considered “wages” for this certificate as long as the total fair market value of the benefits is $100. If the fair market value of the benefit is lower than $100, then it cannot be considered a “wage”.

Filing Form SS-16

Form SS-16 has four copies that must be filled out with the same information. However, you are only required to submit Copies A, B, and C.

• Copy A is for the IRS to review and retain to keep in their records.
• Copy B is to be forwarded to the Social Security Administration (SSA) by the IRS.
• Copy C will be returned to you after the IRS has reviewed the form to inform you that the form has been accepted by the IRS.
• Copy D should not be submitted to the IRS as this copy is for you to keep in your records.

To file Form SS-16, you can submit it to an IRS center depending on where your religious order is located.

• Submit the form to the Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service Center in Cincinnati, Ohio 45999 if your religious order is based in Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, or Wisconsin.
• Submit the form to the Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service Center in Ogden, Utah 84201 if your religious order is based in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington or, Wyoming.
• If your religious order is based outside any state, you may submit the form to the Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service Center in Ogden, Utah 84201.

How to fill out Form SS-16

Religious orders who are required to file Form SS-16 can find a PDF version of the form on the official IRS government website. You may download and print the form to fill out manually. Alternatively, you can fill out the form electronically through PDF Run.

Note that all instructions are the same throughout all copies of the form.

Full name of Religious Order

Input the complete and registered name of your religious order or the autonomous subdivision of your religious order.

Employer Identification Number

Input the religious order’s EIN. If your religious order has already filed Form 941 before, then make sure that the EIN listed here is identical to the EIN listed in the 941 forms.

Address

Input the religious order’s number, street, apartment or suite number.

City, town or post office, state, and ZIP Code

Continue the complete address of the religious order here.

If your religious order has a foreign address, input the city, province or state, and country (do not abbreviate). When entering the postal code, follow the country’s format.

Effective Date

Input the effective month, day, and year of the certification.

When inputting the effective date, you can choose one from any of the following dates:

• The beginning date of the calendar quarter in which the certificate is filed.
• The beginning date of the calendar quarter following the current quarter the certificate is filed.
• The beginning date of any of the 20 previous calendar years before the filing of the certificate.

Signature

Signature of Authorized Official

The certificate must be signed by an official in the religious order who is authorized to represent the order in matters of finance. Affix their signature here.

Title

Input the formal title of the signatory here.

Date

Input the date of signing here.

Name of the authorized official

Input the complete name of the signatory here.

Telephone Number

Input the business telephone number of the signatory.