Summary
Credit for employer FICA taxes paid on tips in excess of minimum wage. Applicable to food and beverage employers (bars, restaurants, hotels). Credit equals employer FICA paid on tips above amount employee would have earned at minimum wage. Form 8846.
Benefit
- Percentage
- —
- Flat
- —
- Duration
- —
- Max annual
- — (taxpayer)
- Max total
- — (taxpayer)
- Carryforward
- —
Program metadata
- Distribution
- taxpayer_earned
- Claimant subject
- business
- Refund/transfer election
- —
- Program family
- —
- Effective
- —
- Sunset
- —
- Application deadline
- —
- Transfer discount
- —
Hard requirements (1)
- local_approval_requiredFederal claim-on-return credit. No agency pre-approval gate — the taxpayer claims the credit on their return based on satisfying the statutory eligibility criteria (qualified activity, qualified expenditures, qualified employees, etc.). User attests via the securedApprovals chip group on /match that they have determined the underlying §-criteria are met. Without attestation this rule defaults to "unknown" → status="partial" instead of vacuously "eligible".
Preference / tiering rules (0)
None.
NAICS industries (1)
- 722 Food and beverage service (bars, restaurants, hotels, catering)
Geo zones (0)
Statewide / none specified.
Tags (3)
- filing_form: Form 8846 (Credit for Employer Social Security and Medicare Taxes Paid on Certain Employee Tips)
- industry_specific: Food and beverage service (NAICS 722)
- basis_calculation: FICA taxes paid on tips exceeding amount at minimum wage
Tax bases
- corporate_income_taxprimary
Approval requirements (1)
- requiredUS IRS — self-attestation that qualifying activity meets statutory criteria — Self-attestation: confirm the qualifying activity meets the statutory eligibility criteria for this §-code credit. Tax preparer / CPA verification recommended.
Source
IRC §45B; Form 8846 (Credit for Employer Social Security and Medicare Taxes Paid on Certain Employee Tips)
Last verified: 2026-04-22