Vision Payroll

According to the US Department of Labor, in the week ending April 25, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 631,000, a decrease of 14,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 645,000. The 4-week moving average was 637,250, a decrease of 10,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 648,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.7 percent for the week ending April 18, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 4.6 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 18 was 6,271,000, an increase of 133,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 6,138,000. The 4-week moving average was 6,076,000, an increase of 131,500 from the preceding week’s revised average of 5,944,500.

The fiscal year-to-date average for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for all programs is 4.894 million.

Could you use a systematic, objective tool to assess regulatory or policy compliance in the workplace? Would you like to identify areas of strength? Do you need to note areas of concern? Sign on today to MyHRSupportCenter and take the 3-minute HR audit. You’ll be asked a series of questions that will take just three minutes to complete. Within one business day you’ll receive an e-mail notifying you when your results are complete. For questions on or assistance with the results, Vision Payroll can provide you with the name of a competent HR professional in your area. If you’re not yet signed up or would like a free trial of MyHRSupportCenter, contact Vision Payroll today.

Effective May 1, 2009, revised withholding tables are in effect for the New York State personal income tax and the Yonkers resident personal income surcharge tax for certain taxpayers. Vision Payroll will be using the revised tables for all payrolls after April 30, 2009. These changes are required by recent law changes. There are no changes to the New York City personal income tax rates or the Yonkers nonresident earnings tax rate. The revisions are in accordance with the new rules promulgated in Publication NYS-50-T.1, Revised New York State and Yonkers Withholding Tax Computation Rules. Employers are advised that Form IT-2104, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate, has also been revised to reflect the changes and employers should encourage impacted taxpayers to complete the revised form to prevent under-withholding. Contact Vision Payroll if you have any questions on these changes.

Vision Payroll has learned from informal discussions with the Massachusetts Division of Unemployment Assistance that some taxpayers may have incorrectly received letters indicating that they were exempt from filing the Fair Share Contribution Report for 2009. As a precaution, Vision Payroll is recommending that taxpayers that have received this letter file the Fair Share Contribution Report regardless. It is generally better to file a form unnecessarily than to not file a form that is required. Contact Vision Payroll if you have any questions or need assistance filing the Fair Share Contribution Report or the Employer Health Insurance Responsibility Disclosure (HIRD) Report.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently released an advance copy of Notice 2009-27, Premium assistance for COBRA benefits. Pursuant to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 or ARRA, certain involuntarily terminated employees are eligible for employer-provided subsidies to help pay for their Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) continuation coverage. Employers may then claim a credit on their Form 941 to be reimbursed for the assistance provided. Vision Payroll provided an overview of Notice 2009-27 when it was first issued. Today we will be reviewing Additional Issues under Notice 2009-27.

The IRS indicated in Notice 2009-27 that it is aware of additional issues not addressed in Notice 2009-27. The IRS and the US Department of the Treasury are still considering these issues and may issue future guidance on them.

This concludes our summary of Notice 2009-27. Contact Vision Payroll if you have any questions on Notice 2009-27.

According to the California Employment Development Department (EDD), employers statewide directly affected by the decline in population of the Sacramento River Fall Run Chinook Salmon may request up to a 60-day extension of time from EDD to file their State payroll reports and/or deposit State payroll taxes without penalty or interest. This extension may be granted under Section 1111.5 of the California Unemployment Insurance Code (CUIC). Written request for extension must be received within 60 days from the original delinquent date of the payment or return to file/pay. Contact Vision Payroll if you’ve been affected and need to file the extension request.

This week’s question comes from Carolyn, a business owner. I recently hired some new employees. Am I required to file Massachusetts Form 1700-HI? Answer: Employers in Massachusetts should count the number of employees who worked or received pay for any part of the pay period that includes the twelfth of the month for each of the three months in the quarter. If the sum of those three numbers is eighteen or more, then the employer is required to file Form 1700-HI and pay tax at the rate assigned by the Massachusetts Division of Unemployment Assistance. Contact Vision Payroll if you have any questions on Form 1700-HI, Health Insurance Quarterly Contribution Report.

According to the US Department of Labor, in the week ending April 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 640,000, an increase of 27,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 613,000. The 4-week moving average was 646,750, a decrease of 4,250 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 651,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.6% for the week ending April 11, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 4.5%.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 11 was 6,137,000, an increase of 93,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 6,044,000. The 4-week moving average was 5,944,000, an increase of 142,500 from the preceding week’s revised average of 5,801,500.

The fiscal year-to-date average for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for all programs is 4.837 million.

Masschusetts DD 09-2, Personal Income Tax Treatment of Employer-Provided Health Insurance Coverage for an Employee’s Former Spouse

In tough economic times, employers may need to consider various strategies for reducing payroll costs. In so doing, they need to be aware of many issues. Will our strategy be considered discrimination against a protected group? How will employees’ exempt status be impacted by our strategy? Is severance pay a viable addendum to our chosen strategy? Do WARN or state “mini-WARN” laws apply to our strategy? How many options should we consider? What is the key to choosing the correct option?

The answers to these questions and many more can be found in this month’s HRCast a recording provided by our team of HR Pros and available exclusively on MyHRSupportCenter. Learn what you need to know about these six key strategies:

1. Decrease Wages
2. Reduce Work Schedules
3. Redistribute Work Loads
4. Offer Leaves of Absence
5. Provide Voluntary Separation Packages
6. Exercise a Phased Layoff

Visit MyHRSupportCenter regularly not only for our HRCasts, but also to get late-breaking compliance alerts, best practices to implement, and HR tools to use every day. If you’re not yet signed up or would like a free trial of MyHRSupportCenter, contact Vision Payroll today.