Vision Payroll

Friday, January 1, 2010 will be New Year’s Day, a federal holiday. The offices of Vision Payroll will close New Year’s Eve, December 31 at 2 pm EST and re-open Monday January 4. Most banks will also be closed in observance of the holiday. Payroll changes and hours must be submitted before the processing deadlines as listed below.

Payrolls dated January 1 will be paid December 31 unless a previous change in schedule has been submitted.

Due to heavy USPS and UPS delivery requirements, we strongly recommend submitting payrolls during this time as early as practicable. UPS does not ship ground deliveries received on December 31 until January 4 so we do not recommend submitting payrolls on that date. The next federal holiday will be January 18, 2010, the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. Contact Vision Payroll as soon as possible to make changes to or for questions on your processing schedule.

The Idaho Department of Labor has announced an increase in the taxable wage base for 2010. The wage base will increase from $33,200 for 2009 to $33,300 for 2010. Contact Vision Payroll if you have any questions on the Idaho unemployment taxable wage base or visit our Unemployment Taxable Wage Base page.

The Washington Employment Security Department has announced an increase in the taxable wage base for 2010. The wage base will increase from $35,700 for 2009 to $36,800 for 2010. Contact Vision Payroll if you have any questions on the Washington unemployment taxable wage base or visit our Unemployment Taxable Wage Base page.

This week’s question comes from Janine, an office manager. We are a Massachusetts employer with some employees who have chosen not to participate in the company health insurance plan. What are the penalties for not having health insurance in 2010? Answer: The Massachusetts Department of Revenue (the Department)  has released a working draft Technical Information Release 09-XX, Individual Mandate Penalties for Tax Year 2010. In this working draft, the proposed penalties are as follows:

• Individuals with incomes up to 150% of the Federal Poverty Level are not subject to any penalty for non-compliance, as those at this income level are not required to pay an enrollee premium for Commonwealth Care health insurance.
• Penalties for individuals with incomes from 150% to 300% of the Federal Poverty Level will be half of the lowest priced Commonwealth Care enrollee premium that could be charged to an individual at the corresponding income level, based on the Connector’s Commonwealth Care enrollee premiums as of January 1, 2010.
• Penalties for individuals with incomes greater than 300% of the Federal Poverty Level will be:

Ages 18-26: half of the lowest priced Commonwealth Choice Young Adult Plan premium; and

Ages 27 and above: half of the lowest priced Commonwealth Choice Bronze premium, based on the Connector’s prices for these plans as of January 1, 2010.

• The Department anticipates issuing an updated penalty schedule for tax year 2011.
• Penalties for married couples who do not comply with the individual mandate rules (with or without children) will equal the sum of individual penalties for each spouse.

Contact Vision Payroll if you have any questions on the working draft of Information Release 09-XX, Individual Mandate Penalties for Tax Year 2010.

According to the US Department of Labor, in the week ending December 12, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 480,000, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 473,000. The 4-week moving average was 467,500, a decrease of 5,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 472,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.9% for the week ending December 5, unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 3.9%.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 5 was 5,186,000, an increase of 5,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 5,181,000. The 4-week moving average was 5,318,250, a decrease of 106,750 from the preceding week’s revised average of 5,425,000.

The fiscal year-to-date average for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for all programs is 5.722 million.

During this flu season, especially with H1N1 in mind, many employers are concerned with how to properly prepare for potential pandemic illness debilitating their employees and their business. There are three important areas employers must consider when preparing their action plan for dealing with pandemic outbreaks at work.

• Workplace Issues
• Employer Responsibilities
• Action Items

You’ll learn much more about these three areas in this month’s HRCast, a recording provided by our team of HR Pros and available exclusively on MyHRSupportCenter.

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.

The Vermont Department of Labor has announced an increase in the taxable wage base for 2010. The wage base will increase from $8,000 for 2009 to $10,000 for 2010. Contact Vision Payroll if you have any questions on the Vermont unemployment taxable wage base or visit our Unemployment Taxable Wage Base page.

Friday, December 25, 2009 will be Christmas Day, a federal holiday. The offices of Vision Payroll will close Christmas Eve, December 24 at 2 pm EST and re-open Monday December 28. Most banks will also be closed in observance of the holiday. Payroll changes and hours must be submitted before the processing deadlines as listed below.

Payrolls dated December 25 will be paid December 24 unless a previous change in schedule has been submitted.

Due to heavy USPS and UPS delivery requirements as well as limited bank hours and staffing, we strongly recommend submitting payrolls during this time as early as practicable. UPS does not ship ground deliveries received on December 24 until December 28 so we do not recommend submitting payrolls on that date. The next federal holiday will be January 1, 2010, New Year’s Day. Contact Vision Payroll as soon as possible to make changes to or for questions on your processing schedule.

The Utah Department of Workforce Services has announced an increase in the taxable wage base for 2010. The wage base will increase from $27,800 for 2009 to $28,300 for 2010. Contact Vision Payroll if you have any questions on the Utah unemployment taxable wage base or visit our Unemployment Taxable Wage Base page.

The South Dakota Department of Labor has announced an increase in the taxable wage base for 2010. The wage base will increase from $9,500 for 2009 to $10,000 for 2010. Contact Vision Payroll if you have any questions on the South Dakota unemployment taxable wage base or visit our Unemployment Taxable Wage Base page.