Vision Payroll

Due to the damage caused by the severe storms and flooding in Illinois on July 22, 2010, President Barack Obama declared the following counties a federal disaster area: Carroll, Cook, DuPage, Jo Daviess, Ogle, Stephenson and Winnebago.

Declaration Leads to Extension of Payroll Tax and Other Deadlines

Therefore, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced recently that it will waive failure to deposit penalties for employment and excise taxes due after July 21, 2010 and before August 7, 2010 as long as the deposits were made by August 6, 2010. In addition, affected taxpayers have until September 20, 2010 to file most tax returns.

Vision Payroll is Here to Help Affected Taxpayers with Payroll Tax Issues

Contact Vision Payroll if you were affected by the severe storms and flooding and need further information on the relief provided by the IRS.

Monday, September 6, 2010 will be Labor Day, a federal holiday. The offices of Vision Payroll will close Friday September 3 at 5 pm EDT and re-open Tuesday September 7. Most banks will also be closed in observance of the holiday.

Date Paid	Process Deadline
9/06/10	9/01/10
9/07/10	9/01/10
9/08/10	9/02/10

Payroll Dates May Be Affected by Labor Day

Payrolls dated September 6 will be paid September 3 unless a previous change in schedule has been submitted. Payrolls submitted after these processing deadlines will be pushed back until the next available processing day. No changes are required for payrolls dated September 9.

Columbus Day Is Next Federal Holiday

The next federal holiday will be Monday, October 11, 2010, Columbus Day. Contact Vision Payroll as soon as possible to make changes to or for questions on your processing schedule.

Under the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE Act), employers who hire certain unemployed workers are exempt from certain employment taxes. In order to qualify under the HIRE Act, the wages must be paid by a qualified employer “with respect to employment” in the period beginning March 19, 2010 and ending December 31, 2010. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has provided employers further information on the HIRE Act.

Replacing Poor Performers Not a Bar to Payroll Tax Forgiveness Under the HIRE Act

Under the HIRE Act, employees who are hired to replace other employees are generally not eligible to be qualified employees. One exception to this rule is for employees hired to replace other employees who were terminated due to poor performance. If they otherwise meet the qualification standards, such employees are qualified employees under the HIRE Act.

Review Recent Hires to See if Any Qualify for Payroll Tax Forgiveness Under the HIRE Act

Employers should review employees who were hired to replace employees who were terminated due to poor performance to see if they otherwise qualify and are therefore eligible under the HIRE Act.

Vision Payroll Helps Employers Claim Payroll Tax Forgiveness

Contact Vision Payroll if you have further questions on the HIRE Act.

In IR-2010-092, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently announced proposed regulations (REG 153340-09) that eliminate the ability for taxpayers to deposit taxes using paper coupons. Additionally, businesses with a quarterly Federal tax liability of more than $2,500 would be required to pay taxes electronically.

Paper Coupons Eliminated Starting in 2011

Since the Treasury Department will no longer maintain the paper coupon system after December 31, 2010, the proposed regulations eliminate rules related to that system. Taxpayers who have a tax liability of less than $2,500 in a quarter would be able to pay the amount with the return. All other taxpayers will be required to pay electronically.

Contact Vision Payroll Now!

As an authorized batch filer using the EFTPS system, Vision Payroll can transmit electronic tax payments in batches for multiple taxpayers. This is the most efficient method to transmit payments to the IRS. Electronic payments have a significantly lower error rate than paper coupons and therefore reduce correspondence from the IRS that attempts to resolve those errors.

Contact Vision Payroll today to get started.

This week’s question comes from Sylvia, a payroll manager. I thought I heard that the social security wage base would remain the same in 2011 as it was in 2010, but I can’t find anything official. Has the 2011 social security wage base been announced? Answer: Although the official announcement has not been made that for 2011 there will be no increase in the social security wage base, The 2010 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds has been released. In it, the Board of Trustees estimates that the 2011 social security wage base will remain unchanged at $106,800. The report includes the information about financial operations, legislative changes, and actuarial assumptions.

Second Straight Year with No Increase in Social Security Wage Base

If the prediction holds true, 2011 would be the third straight year that the wage base would be $106,800 and the maximum social security withholding would be $6,621.60. At this time, an increase in the wage base and maximum withholding is projected for 2012.

Social Security Wage Base Projected to Increase Over 40% by 2019

The Board of Trustees projects annual increases through 2019. Currently, the Board of Trustees estimates that the social security wage base will increase to $153,600 for the year 2019.

Vision Payroll Expects Official Announcement in October

When the Social Security Administration (SSA) makes the official announcement, most likely in October, Vision Payroll will provide updated amounts for 2011. Visit our Important Facts and Figures page for more details.

According to the US Department of Labor, in the week ending August 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 500,000, an increase of 12,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 488,000. The 4-week moving average was 482,500, an increase of 8,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 474,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.5% for the week ending August 7, unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 3.5%.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending August 7 was 4,478,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 4,491,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,526,750, a decrease of 1,500 from the preceding week’s revised average of 4,528,250.

The fiscal year-to-date average of seasonally adjusted weekly insured unemployment, which corresponds to the appropriated AWIU trigger, was 5.010 million.

The issue of an employee’s privacy rights and an employer’s workplace monitoring of electronic communications have gained the attention of the US Supreme Court and recently led to a key decision that favors employers.

In City of Ontario, et al. v. Quon, et al., 560 US ___ (2010), an employee (Quon) and others sued their employer (City of Ontario) arguing that the City of Ontario “violated their Fourth Amendment rights and the federal Stored Communications Act (SCA) by obtaining and reviewing the transcript of Quon’s pager messages.” The US Supreme Court ruled that since “the search of Quon’s text messages was reasonable, [the City of Ontario] did not violate [Quon’s and his co-workers’] Fourth Amendment rights, and the Ninth Circuit erred by concluding otherwise.”

Employers may wonder about their rights and responsibilities when monitoring an employee’s electronic communications. What types of searches are allowable? Is notice to employees required in the employee handbook or elsewhere? How do changes in technology affect these rights and responsibilities? What is the impact of state law on employee texting and workplace privacy?

To learn more about, be sure to listen to Employee Texting and Workplace Privacy 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 haven’t yet signed up and would like a free trial of MyHRSupportCenter, contact Vision Payroll today.

Under the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE Act), employers who hire certain unemployed workers are exempt from certain employment taxes. In order to qualify under the HIRE Act, the wages must be paid by a qualified employer “with respect to employment” in the period beginning March 19, 2010 and ending December 31, 2010. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has provided employers further information on the HIRE Act.

Under the HIRE Act, employees who are hired to replace other employees are generally not eligible to be qualified employees. One exception to this rule is for employees hired to replace other employees who were terminated due to gross misconduct. If they otherwise meet the qualification standards, such employees are qualified employees under the HIRE Act.

Employers should review employees who were hired to replace employees who were terminated due to gross misconduct to see if they otherwise qualify and are therefore eligible under the HIRE Act.

Contact Vision Payroll if you have further questions on the HIRE Act.

Under the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE Act), employers who hire certain unemployed workers are exempt from certain employment taxes. In order to qualify under the HIRE Act, the wages must be paid by a qualified employer “with respect to employment” in the period beginning March 19, 2010 and ending December 31, 2010. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has provided employers further information on the HIRE Act.

Under the HIRE Act, employees who are hired to replace other employees are generally not eligible to be qualified employees. One exception to this rule is for employees hired to replace other employees who terminated employment voluntarily. If they otherwise meet the qualification standards, such employees are qualified employees under the HIRE Act.

Employers should review employees who were hired to replace employees who terminated voluntarily to see if they otherwise qualify and are therefore eligible under the HIRE Act.

Contact Vision Payroll if you have further questions on the HIRE Act.

Due to the damage caused by the severe storms, flooding and tornadoes in Iowa on June 1, 2010, President Barack Obama declared the following counties a federal disaster area: Black Hawk, Cherokee, Clayton, Decatur, Delaware, Dubuque, Fayette, Franklin, Hamilton, Howard, Humboldt, Ida, Jackson, Jasper, Jones, Kossuth, Lee, Lucas, Lyon, Mahaska, Marion, O’Brien, Osceola, Polk, Ringgold, Sioux, Story, Taylor, Union, Warren, Webster and Wright. Therefore, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced recently that it will waive failure to deposit penalties for employment and excise taxes due after May 31, 2010 and before June 17, 2010 as long as the deposits were made by June 16, 2010. In addition, affected taxpayers had until August 2, 2010 to file most tax returns. Contact Vision Payroll if you were affected by the severe storms, flooding and tornadoes and need further information on the relief provided by the IRS.