What is the responsibility of non-owners for the Trust Fund penalty?

The IRS can pursue any employee of a company if they determine that the person is a “Responsible Party” for the Trust Fund penalty. The trust fund portion of the payroll taxes is all of the federal taxes that are withheld from each employee’s paycheck. It is not the company’s matching social security and medicare taxes.  There are two tests to determine whether you can be held liable for the trust fund portion of the payroll taxes. Both tests have to be answered “yes” for you to be held liable.  The first test is whether or not you were responsible for paying the taxes.  As payroll clerk, you probably were.  The second test is whether or not you acted willfully in not paying the payroll taxes.  In other words, did you have the power or ability to determine which bills would be paid with the available money. If so, then you are probably liable, however, your supervisor may have made those decisions.