On August 28, 2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued guidance to address President Trump’s August 8^th memo authorizing the deferral of the withholding, deposit, and payment of Social Security payroll tax obligations for affected taxpayers. Employers are not required to defer the payment of Social Security taxes, the deferral is optional, but any deferred taxes must be repaid. The guidance and the memo do not address whether employees can elect to defer (or decline the deferral of) this federal payroll tax.