§ 409.
(a)
In general
For the purposes of this subchapter, the term “wages” means remuneration paid prior to 1951 which was wages for the purposes of this subchapter under the law applicable to the payment of such remuneration, and remuneration paid after 1950 for employment, including the cash value of all remuneration (including benefits) paid in any medium other than cash; except that, in the case of remuneration paid after 1950, such term shall not include—
(1)
(A)
That part of remuneration which, after remuneration (other than remuneration referred to in the succeeding subsections of this section) equal to $3,600 with respect to employment has been paid to an individual during any calendar year prior to 1955, is paid to such individual during such calendar year;
(B)
That part of remuneration which, after remuneration (other than remuneration referred to in the succeeding subsections of this section) equal to $4,200 with respect to employment has been paid to an individual during any calendar year after 1954 and prior to 1959, is paid to such individual during such calendar year;
(C)
That part of remuneration which, after remuneration (other than remuneration referred to in the succeeding subsections of this section) equal to $4,800 with respect to employment has been paid to an individual during any calendar year after 1958 and prior to 1966, is paid to such individual during such calendar year;
(D)
That part of remuneration which, after remuneration (other than remuneration referred to in the succeeding subsections of this section) equal to $6,600 with respect to employment has been paid to an individual during any calendar year after 1965 and prior to 1968, is paid to such individual during such calendar year;
(E)
That part of remuneration which, after remuneration (other than remuneration referred to in the succeeding subsections of this section) equal to $7,800 with respect to employment has been paid to an individual during any calendar year after 1967 and prior to 1972, is paid to such individual during such calendar year;
(F)
That part of remuneration which, after remuneration (other than remuneration referred to in the succeeding subsections of this section) equal to $9,000 with respect to employment has been paid to an individual during any calendar year after 1971 and prior to 1973, is paid to such individual during any such calendar year;
(G)
That part of remuneration which, after remuneration (other than remuneration referred to in the succeeding subsections of this section) equal to $10,800 with respect to employment has been paid to an individual during any calendar year after 1972 and prior to 1974, is paid to such individual during such calendar year;
(H)
That part of remuneration which, after remuneration (other than remuneration referred to in the succeeding subsections of this section) equal to $13,200 with respect to employment has been paid to an individual during any calendar year after 1973 and prior to 1975, is paid to such individual during such calendar year;
(I)
That part of remuneration which, after remuneration (other than remuneration referred to in the succeeding subsections of this section) equal to the contribution and benefit base (determined under
section 430 of this title) with respect to employment has been paid to an individual during any calendar year after 1974 with respect to which such contribution and benefit base is effective, is paid to such individual during such calendar year;
(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 clause 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 (C) death, except that this subsection does not apply to a payment for group-term life insurance to the extent that such payment is includible in the gross income of the employee under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986;
(3)
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 six calendar months following the last calendar month in which the employee worked for such employer;
(4)
Any payment made to, or on behalf of, an employee or his beneficiary (A) from or to a trust exempt from tax under section 165(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939 at the time of such payment or, in the case of a payment after 1954, under sections 401 and 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 or the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 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, meets the requirements of section 165(a)(3)
(5)
The payment by an employer (without deduction from the remuneration of the employee)—
(A)
of the tax imposed upon an employee under section 3101 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 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;
(6)
(A)
Remuneration paid in any medium other than cash to an employee for service not in the course of the employer’s trade or business or for domestic service in a private home of the employer;
(B)
Cash remuneration paid by an employer in any calendar year to an employee for domestic service in a private home of the employer (including domestic service on a farm operated for profit), if the cash remuneration paid in such year by the employer to the employee for such service is less than the applicable dollar threshold (as defined in section 3121(x) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) for such year;
(C)
Cash remuneration paid by an employer in any calendar year to an employee for service not in the course of the employer’s trade or business, if the cash remuneration paid in such year by the employer to the employee for such service is less than $100. As used in this paragraph, the term “service not in the course of the employer’s trade or business” does not include domestic service in a private home of the employer and does not include service described in
section 410(f)(5) of this title;
(7)
(A)
Remuneration paid in any medium other than cash for agricultural labor;
(B)
Cash remuneration paid by an employer in any calendar year to an employee for agricultural labor unless—
(i)
the cash remuneration paid in such year by the employer to the employee for such labor is $150 or more, or
(ii)
the employer’s expenditures for agricultural labor in such year equal or exceed $2,500,
except that clause (ii) shall not apply in determining whether remuneration paid to an employee constitutes “wages” under this section if such employee (I) is employed as a hand harvest laborer and is paid on a piece rate basis in an operation which has been, and is customarily and generally recognized as having been, paid on a piece rate basis in the region of employment, (II) commutes daily from his permanent residence to the farm on which he is so employed, and (III) has been employed in agriculture less than 13 weeks during the preceding calendar year;
(8)
Remuneration paid by an employer in any year to an employee for service described in
section 410(j)(3)(C) of this title (relating to home workers), if the cash remuneration paid in such year by the employer to the employee for such service is less than $100;
(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 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (determined without regard to section 274(n) of such Code);
(10)
(A)
Tips paid in any medium other than cash;
(B)
Cash tips received by an employee in any calendar month in the course of his employment by an employer unless the amount of such cash tips is $20 or more;
(11)
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 (A)
1
So in original. Probably should be designated cls. (i) and (ii), respectively.
death, or (B) 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;
(12)
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;
(13)
Any payment made by an employer to an employee, if at the time such payment is made such employee is entitled to disability insurance benefits under
section 423(a) of this title and such entitlement commenced prior to the calendar year in which such payment is made, and if such employee did not perform any services for such employer during the period for which such payment is made;
(14)
Remuneration paid by an organization exempt from income tax under section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 in any calendar year to an employee for service rendered in the employ of such organization, if the remuneration paid in such year by the organization to the employee for such service is less than $100;
(15)
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 or 129 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986;
(16)
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 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986;
(17)
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 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986;
(18)
Remuneration consisting of income excluded from taxation under section 7873 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to income derived by Indians from exercise of fishing rights);
(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) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) or under an employee stock purchase plan (as defined in section 423(b) of such Code), 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) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986).
2
So in original. The closing parenthesis probably should not appear.
([Aug. 14, 1935, ch. 531], title II, § 209, [49 Stat. 625]; [Aug. 10, 1939, ch. 666], title II, § 201, [53 Stat. 1362], 1373; [Mar. 24, 1943, ch. 26, § 1(b)(2)], [57 Stat. 47]; [Apr. 4, 1944, ch. 161, § 2], [58 Stat. 188]; [Oct. 23, 1945, ch. 433, § 7(b)], [59 Stat. 548]; [Dec. 29, 1945, ch. 652], title I, § 5(a), [59 Stat. 671]; [Aug. 10, 1946, ch. 951], title IV, §§ 407(a), 408(a), 409(a), 410, 411, 414, [60 Stat. 988], 989, 990; [Apr. 20, 1948, ch. 222, § 1(a)], [62 Stat. 195]; [Aug. 28, 1950, ch. 809], title I, § 104(a), [64 Stat. 492]; [Sept. 1, 1954, ch. 1206], title I, §§ 101(a)(1)–(3), 104(a), [68 Stat. 1052], 1078; [Aug. 1, 1956, ch. 836], title I, § 105(a), [70 Stat. 828]; [Aug. 1, 1956, ch. 837], title IV, § 401, [70 Stat. 869]; [Pub. L. 85–786, § 1], Aug. 27, 1958, [72 Stat. 938]; [Pub. L. 85–840, title I, § 102(a)], Aug. 28, 1958, [72 Stat. 1019]; [Pub. L. 86–778, title I, § 103(j)(2)(C)], (F), Sept. 13, 1960, [74 Stat. 937], 938; [Pub. L. 87–64, title I, § 102(c)(3)(A)], June 30, 1961, [75 Stat. 134]; [Pub. L. 87–293, title II, § 202(b)(2)], Sept. 22, 1961, [75 Stat. 626]; [Pub. L. 88–272, title II, § 220(c)(3)], Feb. 26, 1964, [78 Stat. 63]; [Pub. L. 88–650, § 4(a)], Oct. 13, 1964, [78 Stat. 1077]; [Pub. L. 89–97, title III], §§ 313(a), 320(a)(1), July 30, 1965, [79 Stat. 382], 393; [Pub. L. 90–248, title I, § 108(a)(1)], title V, § 504(c), Jan. 2, 1968, [81 Stat. 834], 935; [Pub. L. 92–5, title II, § 203(a)(1)], Mar. 17, 1971, [85 Stat. 10]; [Pub. L. 92–336, title II, § 203(a)(1)], July 1, 1972, [86 Stat. 417]; [Pub. L. 92–603, title I], §§ 104(g), 122(a), 123(c)(1), 138(a), Oct. 30, 1972, [86 Stat. 1341], 1354, 1356, 1365; [Pub. L. 93–66, title II, § 203(a)(1)], July 9, 1973, [87 Stat. 153]; [Pub. L. 93–233, § 5(a)(1)], Dec. 31, 1973, [87 Stat. 953]; [Pub. L. 95–216, title III, § 351(a)(1)]–(3)(A), Dec. 20, 1977