Vision Payroll

According to the US Department of Labor, in the week ending January 31, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 626,000, an increase of 35,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 591,000. The 4-week moving average was 582,250, an increase of 39,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 543,250.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a component of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced a delay in the implementation of the revised Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, but you shouldn’t delay in learning what you need to know about the rule changes that the new form will bring.

This month’s featured article on MyHRSupportCenter covers the basics of the form, revisions to the form including newly acceptable documents and documents that are no longer acceptable, and how the delay impacts use of the current and revised forms.

To learn more, sign into MyHRSupportCenter and read this month’s featured article. If you’re not yet signed up or would like a free trial of MyHRSupportCenter, contact Vision Payroll today.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a component of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), announced recently that it would delay “the implementation of an interim final rule entitled ‘Documents Acceptable for Employment Eligibility Verification’ published in the Federal Register on Dec. 17, 2008.”

The delay allows the DHS time to reconsider the rule and also accept additional public comments since the public comment period has been reopened until March 4, 2009.

The revised version of the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, that was to become effective February 2, 2009 has been delayed 60 days until April 3, 2009 pending implementation of the interim final rule.

Contact Vision Payroll if you have any questions on the interim final rule and the revised Form I-9.

This is the last in a continuing series on the 2008 Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, which employers must generally furnish to employees no later than February 2, 2009. 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 2008 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 2009 year-end reporting season. Contact Vision Payroll with any questions on the 2008 Form W-2.

This is one in a continuing series on the 2008 Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, which employers must generally furnish to employees no later than February 2, 2009. 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 2008 Form W-2.

This is one in a continuing series on the 2008 Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, which employers must generally furnish to employees no later than February 2, 2009. 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 2008 Form W-2.

This week’s question comes from Rachel, a business owner. I have been running payroll with almost the exact same hours every week for the last few months. In the last few weeks, the payroll cost was several thousand dollars more each week than a month ago. Why did my payroll cost increase? Answer: There are at least three employer taxes with wage caps that are often fully paid by the end of the calendar year for some or all employees. They are the social security portion of FICA or OASDI tax, federal unemployment tax (FUTA), and state unemployment tax (SUTA). Social security had a wage limit of $102,000 ($106,800 in 2009), FUTA has a $7,000 limit in each year, and the SUTA limit varies by state from a low of $7,000 to more than $35,000. At the start of a new calendar year those taxes must again be paid by the employer. With a combined tax rate of over 7% at a minimum, a $100,000 weekly payroll could easily have an increase of between $5,000 and $10,000 in employer payroll tax liability at the start of a new calendar year. Vision Payroll can work with you to find ways to legally minimize your employer tax liability. Contact Vision Payroll today for more information.

According to the US Department of Labor, in the week ending January 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 588,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 585,000. The 4-week moving average was 542,500, an increase of 24,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 518,250.

If you got married or divorced and changed your name, be sure to give the changes to your payroll or HR department and to the Social Security Administration (SSA). This is true if you’ve changed your name to your spouse’s name, hyphenated your name with your spouse’s name, or changed your name to a previous name after a divorce or separation. If the name on your Form W-2 doesn’t match the name on file with the SSA, there may be a problem posting your earnings record to your social security account. Also, be sure not to include titles such as Dr. or Atty. and suffixes such as Jr. or Sr. with the name you provide to payroll or HR unless they are also listed on your social security card.

To change your name with SSA, file Form SS-5, Application for a Social Security Card, with the SSA. This is also a good time to make sure your spouse files Form SS-5, if necessary and also that any children who may have changed their name due to the marriage or divorce do so as well.

Vision Payroll strongly recommends that employees periodically review their social security earnings record and provide the SSA with the Form W-2 to update any incorrectly posted earnings records.

This is one in a continuing series on the 2008 Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, which employers must generally furnish to employees no later than February 2, 2009. 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 12, codes.

Enter codes and amounts in boxes 12a, 12 b, 12c, and 12d. The letters a, b, c, and d do not relate to the codes, but are strictly for identification purposes. If an employee has code C for $100 and that is the only code for that employee, the employer may enter code C in box 12a; it does not need to be entered in box 12c. If filing copy A on paper, enter only four codes on one Form W-2. Employers should use multiple forms for employees with more than four codes. There is no limit on the number of codes on any other copy of Form W-2. Enter the code and amount without dollar signs or commas.

The codes and their descriptions are as follows:

Employers should combine elective deferrals and elective catch-up contributions into one sum and report under the appropriate elective deferral plan code.

The next topic in this continuing series will be Box 13, checkboxes. Contact Vision Payroll with any questions on the 2008 Form W-2.