Section 5 Statement to employee; requisite information; failure of employer to withhold or pay over withheld taxes; liability
Section 5. Every employer required to deduct and withhold from an employee a tax under section two or who would have been required under said section to deduct and withhold a tax if the employee had not claimed any personal exemption or dependency exemptions shall furnish to each such employee in respect of the wages paid by such employer to such employee during the calendar year, on or before January thirty-first of the succeeding year, or, if his employment is terminated before the close of such calendar year, within thirty days from the day on which the last payment of wages is made, a written statement in duplicate showing the name of the employer, the name of the employee and his social security account number, if any, the total amount of wages subject to taxation under chapter sixty-two, and the total amount deducted and withheld as tax. Said statement may contain such other information as the commissioner may prescribe. The commissioner may grant reasonable extensions of time, not exceeding sixty days, for the furnishing of such statement.
Every employer who fails to withhold or pay to the commissioner any sums required by this chapter to be withheld or paid shall be personally and individually liable therefore to the commonwealth. The term “employer”, as used in this paragraph and in section 11, includes an officer or employee of a corporation, or a member or employee of a partnership or limited liability company, who as such officer, employee or member is under a duty to withhold and pay over taxes in accordance with this section and section 2. Any sum withheld in accordance with section 2 shall be considered to be held in trust for the commonwealth.
If an employer in violation of the provisions of this chapter fails to withhold the tax in accordance with section two, and thereafter the tax against which such tax may be credited, pursuant to section nine, is paid, the tax so required to be withheld shall not be collected from the employer; but this paragraph shall in no case relieve the employer from liability for any penalties or addition to the tax otherwise applicable in respect of such failure to withhold.