Vision Payroll

This week’s question comes from Jonathan, an HR director. I compared my Form W-2 to my last pay stub and there are differences between the amounts listed on the Form W-2 and the amounts on my last pay stub. How do I reconcile my W-2 to my last pay stub? Answer: The amounts on the Form W-2 may differ from gross pay on your last pay stub for several reasons. The Vision Payroll web site contains a document that helps employees reconcile their Form W-2 to their last pay stub. Contact Vision Payroll if you have any further questions.

According to the US Department of Labor, in the week ending January 30, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 480,000, an increase of 8,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 472,000. The 4-week moving average was 468,750, an increase of 11,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 457,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.5% for the week ending January 23, unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 3.5%.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 23 was 4,602,000, an increase of 2,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 4,600,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,617,500, a decrease of 51,250 from the preceding week’s revised average of 4,668,750.

The fiscal year-to-date average for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for all programs is 5.362 million.

COBRA allows eligible individuals to continue employer-provided group health coverage for a specified period due to certain qualifying events, such as job loss. In February 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) was enacted and provided a temporary 65% COBRA (or similar state continuation coverage) premium subsidy for eligible individuals. In December 2009, President Obama signed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act (2010 DOD Act or DDAA), which also amended ARRA.

The law extends the eligibility period, includes a retroactive subsidy extension, and imposes new notice requirements. The notice requirements are necessary so that all eligible employees know and understand the options that are available to them under the 2010 DOD Act. You can also get tax credits for individuals who may not have been previously eligible.

To learn more and get a list of action items that you can use right now, be sure to read the featured article by the HR pros at MyHRSupportCenter, COBRA-ARRA Subsidy Extension and New Requirements. If you’re not yet signed up or would like a free trial of MyHRSupportCenter, contact Vision Payroll today.

Monday, February 15, 2010 will be Washington’s Birthday, a federal holiday. Although the offices of Vision Payroll will be open and payrolls will be processed, most banks will be closed in observance of the holiday.

Payrolls dated February 15 will be paid February 12 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 February 18.

The next federal holiday will be Monday, May 31, 2010, Memorial Day. Contact Vision Payroll as soon as possible to make changes to or for questions on your processing schedule.

This is the last in a continuing series on the 2009 Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, which employers must generally furnish to employees no later than February 1, 2010. Forms mailed on the due date are considered furnished if properly addressed. Employers unable to meet that deadline may file a request for extension of time to furnish the forms. Today we review Boxes 15 through 20, state and local income tax information.

Employers report state and local tax information in boxes 15 through 20. There is room for two states on each individual form with one state reported above the broken line and one state reported below the broken line. You should report local information in the same manner. If you must report information for more than two states or localities, use a second form. Do not complete federal information on any additional form for the same employee unless it is information that couldn’t fit on the first form or is being reported separately. For the state name, use the two-character abbreviation assigned by the United States Postal Service. The state taxing authority should have assigned the employer’s state ID number to use.

State wages reported in box 16 and local wages in box 18 must be reported according to the reporting requirements of the state or locality and may or may not equal wages reported in box 1, box 3, or box 7.

Although this ends this series on the 2009 Form W-2, Vision Payroll will continue to provide information throughout the year to assist you in the process of gathering data to help ensure an accurate and efficient 2010 year-end reporting season. Contact Vision Payroll with any questions on the 2009 Form W-2.

This is one in a continuing series on the 2009 Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, which employers must generally furnish to employees no later than February 1, 2010. Forms mailed on the due date are considered furnished if properly addressed. Employers unable to meet that deadline may file a request for extension of time to furnish the forms. Today we review Box 14, other.

Box 14 is used to provide additional information that employees may want or need for their tax records. Employers must report the lease value of a vehicle reported in box 1 either here or in a separate statement provided to the employee. The following are examples of items that employers may want to disclose in box 14:

• State disability insurance taxes withheld
• Union dues
• Uniform payments
• Health insurance premiums deducted
• Nontaxable income
• Educational assistance payments
• Clergy’s parsonage allowance and utilities
• Nonelective employer contributions to a pension plan on behalf of an employee
• Voluntary after-tax contributions to a pension plan that are deducted from an employee’s pay (not including Roth contributions)
• Required employee contributions to a pension plan
• Employer matching contributions to a pension plan

Employers may also report prior-year makeup amounts for nonelective employer contributions, voluntary after-tax contributions, required employee contributions, and employer matching contributions made under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994, also known as USERRA. Such amounts should be reported separately for each year.

Amounts included in box 14 should include a separate label for each item.

The next topic in this continuing series will be Boxes 15 through 20, state and local income tax information. Contact Vision Payroll with any questions on the 2009 Form W-2.

This is one in a continuing series on the 2009 Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, which employers must generally furnish to employees no later than February 1, 2010. Forms mailed on the due date are considered furnished if properly addressed. Employers unable to meet that deadline may file a request for extension of time to furnish the forms. Today we review Box 13, checkboxes.

There are three checkboxes that must be completed in certain circumstances. First is a checkbox for statutory employees. Statutory employees are independent contractors who are legally classified as employees for certain purposes. Employers must withhold social security tax and Medicare tax from statutory employees. Employers do not withhold federal income tax from statutory employees.

The second checkbox is for retirement plan participation. Employers must check the box for active participants in certain retirement plans. Generally, employees are active participants in defined benefit plans if they are eligible to participate for that tax year. Employees are generally active participants in defined contribution plans for any tax year that either the employer or employee makes a contribution, including forfeitures added to the employee’s account.

The final checkbox is for third-party sick pay. This box is used either by payers of third-party sick pay filing on behalf of an insured or by employer’s reporting payments made by the insurer.

The checkbox for deceased employees was eliminated after the year 2000 reporting period and is no longer required.

The next topic in this continuing series will be Box 14, other. Contact Vision Payroll with any questions on the 2009 Form W-2.

This week’s question comes from John, a homeowner. I read about the need for household employers to file Schedule H. I own a home and hire people to do work there, but am not sure if I need to file Schedule H. How do I know if someone is a household employee? Answer: According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), “If you hired someone to do household work and you were able to control what work he or she did and how he or she did it, you had a household employee. This is true even if you gave the employee freedom of action. What matters is that you had the right to control the details of how the work was done.” The IRS also lists the following types of workers who commonly do household work:

• Babysitters
• Caretakers
• Cleaning People
• Drivers
• Health Aides
• Housekeepers
• Nannies
• Private Nurses
• Yard Workers

Furthermore, “[i]f a worker is your employee, it does not matter whether the work is full or part-time or that you hired the worker through an agency or from a list provided by an agency or association. Also, it does not matter if the wages paid are for work done hourly, daily, weekly, or by the job.”

Publication 926, Household Employer’s Tax Guide contains further information. Consult Publication 926 or contact Vision Payroll if you have further questions.

According to the US Department of Labor, in the week ending January 23, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 470,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 478,000. The 4-week moving average was 456,250, an increase of 9,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 446,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.5% for the week ending January 16, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week’s revised rate of 3.6%.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 16 was 4,602,000, a decrease of 57,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 4,659,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,669,250, a decrease of 94,250 from the preceding week’s revised average of 4,763,500.

The fiscal year-to-date average for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for all programs is 5.404 million.

The US Department of Labor (DOL) has released updated COBRA model notices to help employers meet the notification requirements created by the passage of the Department of Defense Appropriation Act, 2010 (2010 DOD Act). The notices are the Updated General Notice, the Premium Assistance Extension Notice, and the Updated Alternative Notice.

Plans subject to the Federal COBRA provisions must provide the Updated General Notice to all qualified beneficiaries (not just covered employees) who experienced a qualifying event at any time from September 1, 2008 through February 28, 2010, regardless of the type of qualifying event, and who have not yet been provided an election notice. This model notice includes updated information on the premium reduction as well as information required in a COBRA election notice.

Plan administrators must provide notice to certain individuals who have already been provided a COBRA election notice that did not include information regarding the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), as amended. This model Premium Assistance Extension Notice includes information about the changes made to the premium reduction provisions of ARRA by the 2010 DOD Act. Listed below are the affected individuals and the associated timing requirements.

• Individuals who were “assistance eligible individuals” as of October 31, 2009 (unless they are in a transition period – see below), and individuals who experienced a termination of employment on or after October 31, 2009 and lost health coverage (unless they were already provided a timely, Updated General Notice) must be provided notice of the changes made to the premium reduction provisions of ARRA by the 2010 DOD Act by February 17, 2010;
• Individuals who are in a “transition period” must be provided this notice within 60 days of the first day of the transition period. An individual’s “transition period” is the period that begins immediately after the end of the maximum number of months (generally nine) of premium reduction available under ARRA prior to its amendment. An individual is in a transition period only if the premium reduction provisions would continue to apply due to the extension from nine to 15 months and they otherwise remain eligible for the premium reduction.

Insurance issuers that provide group health insurance coverage must send the Updated Alternative Notice to persons who became eligible for continuation coverage under a State law. Continuation coverage requirements vary among States and issuers should modify this model notice as necessary to conform it to the applicable State law. Issuers may also find the model Premium Assistance Extension Notice or the Updated General Notice appropriate for use in certain situations.

Vision Payroll recommends employers consult with their benefit broker, COBRA administrator, and labor law attorney to ensure compliance with the updated notice requirements.