Vision Payroll

Do your employees still waste time and money driving around to get a pay check cashed? Direct deposit is a great solution, but what about employees without a bank account. A Vision Payroll Platinum Pay Card is the answer. With low fees to the employee, it’s usually significantly less expensive than a check cashing service or banks that charge up to $6 to cash a check. And there’s no worry for an employee on vacation or stuck in bad weather. Each week’s pay will automatically be added to the card. Accepted at more than 24 million locations worldwide that accept Visa® debit cards and with the ability to get cash at more than 1 million ATMs, a Vision Payroll Platinum Pay Card is safer than cash. Employees get free account access online or multi-lingual customer support available 24/7/365. Best of all, there’s no charge to employers other than a nominal direct deposit fee. Contact Vision Payroll today or get your Vision Payroll Platinum Pay Card right now.

In TD 9356, the Internal Revenue Service made final the regulations on disregarded entities effective August 16, 2007. In order to allow taxpayers sufficient time to make the changes required by the regulations, the IRS delayed the effective date for the payroll tax changes until January 1, 2009. Under the new regulations, qualified subchapter S subsidiaries (QSubs) (under §1361(b)(3)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) and single-owner eligible entities (under §301.7701-1, §301.7701-2, and §301.7701-3 of the Procedure and Administrative Regulations) that are treated as disregarded entities for most federal tax purposes will be treated as corporations for employment tax purposes. Therefore, owners of single-member LLCs who are treated as sole proprietors for income tax purposes must treat their LLCs as separate entities for employment tax and related reporting purposes. The final regulations clarify that an owner of a disregarded entity will continue to be treated as self-employed and not as an employee of the entity. The regulations also clarify that disregarded entities that are owned solely by a §501(c)(3) organization will maintain the organization’s exemption from federal unemployment tax or FUTA. Contact Vision Payroll if you have questions on changes to the payroll tax reporting procedures for single-owner eligible entities and QSubs.

Today and on the fifteenth of every month, Vision Payroll posts a new HRCast, a recording provided by our team of HR Pros. These recordings help you better manage your business and your most important asset, your employees. In prior months, topics covered included hiring tips, the difference between exempt and non-exempt employees, the independent contractor vs. the employee, and relationships in the workplace. These recordings run between five and ten minutes and provide a great overview of the topic. Search our HR site for more information on the topic or pose a question to our team of experts and receive your answer within one business day. If you’re not yet signed up or would like a free trial of MyHRSupportCenter, contact Vision Payroll today.

Can you ask a job applicant disability-related questions? Does it matter if you’ve made a conditional job offer? Can you ask a current employee disability-related questions? The federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines when a covered employer may ask such questions. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) provides guidance regarding these ADA provisions. 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 Commonwealth of Massachusetts recently promulgated a new regulation, 201 CMR 17.00, titled Standards for The Protection of Personal Information of Residents of the Commonwealth.  The purpose of the regulation is to implement “the provisions of M.G.L. c. 93H relative to the standards to be met by persons who own, license, store or maintain personal information about a resident of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.” Personal information is defined as:

 

 

[A] Massachusetts resident’s first name and last name or first initial and last name in combination with any one or more of the following data elements that relate to such resident: (a) Social Security number; (b) driver’s license number or state-issued identification card number; or (c) financial account number, or credit or debit card number, with or without any required security code, access code, personal identification number or password, that would permit access to a resident’s financial account; provided, however, that “Personal information” shall not include information that is lawfully obtained from publicly available information, or from federal, state or local government records lawfully made available to the general public.

 

 

Since all employers should normally store “personal information” about each employee, apparently all employers who employ a resident of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will be required to comply with the regulations. Governor Deval Patrick has also issued a related Executive Order 504 requiring certification of compliance with the order by all state contractors. There are significant procedures that must be implemented and substantial fines for non-compliance. Vision Payroll will be communicating its compliance with the new regulations to all affected clients before 2009. We strongly suggest that you contact your attorney as soon as possible to discuss implementation of the new provisions.

Do you spend too much time gathering and calculating employees’ hours? Are you looking to reduce excess overtime? Do you need a reliable way to assess your labor costs? Vision Payroll offers a complete line of electronic time and attendance solutions for your business. Our products were developed using Microsoft .NET web architecture, ensuring scalability, rapid deployment, and a low total cost of ownership. With a real time interface to our Online Employer you can reduce administrative tasks. For example, employees set up in Online Employer are automatically added to the time clock software. And since the software also automates complex rate calculations, you can reduce the risk of a wage miscalculation. You’ll save money by not overpaying and help protect your company from costly wage and hour suits by underpaid employees. We have solutions to reduce or eliminate buddy punching, from special badges to biometrics. Supervisors and administrators will save time spent on payroll as well, allowing them to focus on more productive tasks. The cost savings should far exceed the minimal investment you’ll need to get started. With physical time clock solutions and web-based offerings too, Vision Payroll has the answers for all companies, large and small.

The Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration recently announced a new website to provide information on how a Health Savings Account (HSA) can help businesses meet their employees’ health insurance needs. The new website gives an overview of HSAs, their advantages and disadvantages, a FAQ section, a comparison among different types of plans, and resources for more information. It will also be updated on a regular basis with news and official information concerning HSAs. President Bush recently participated in a roundtable discussion on HSAs with small business leaders in Oklahoma City. Vision Payroll can work with you and your benefits broker to determine if an HSA is right for you and, if so, to ensure that your HSA is properly established. Vision Payroll will also ensure that your deductions are properly calculated and reported for federal and state tax purposes. Don’t wait to be the last business on your block with an HSA—contact Vision Payroll today to get started.

Do you reimburse employees for travel and meal expenses? Reduce paperwork and substantiation requirements through the use of a per diem reimbursement. By using a per diem that does not exceed the applicable federal per diem rate for the area of travel, the amount of the expenses need not be substantiated although the employee must still substantiate time, place, and business purpose. There are two parts to the per diem allowance: the lodging portion and the meals and incidental expenses portion. Employees who incur expenses less than the per diem allowance are not required to return the excess amounts. Furthermore, ten percent or more owners and their relatives are ineligible to use the per diem method. Contact Vision Payroll if you have questions on per diem reimbursements.

Identity theft is a problem that’s not going away. At Vision Payroll, we offer and pay for LifeLock protection for all our employees. And while no one can offer 100% protection against identity theft, LifeLock also helps prevent the problems that arise if someone fraudulently obtains your personal data. LifeLock’s guarantee is that they “will pay up to $1,000,000 to cure the failure or defect in our service, per member, per lifetime for all incidents in the aggregate, regardless of circumstance.” If you act now, you can save 10% off LifeLock by simply entering “Vision” in the promotion code box on the enrollment screen. Use this code for yourself, your family, your employees, your friends, or anyone that needs identity theft protection. Act today, before you become a victim.

Are you wasting time stuffing checks into envelopes and sealing them? Do you worry that employee pay data is not safe from prying eyes? Have employee paychecks delivered in pre-sealed checks with tamper-evident seals and you can save time and improve security too. Vision Payroll will seal the checks with perforated edges that must be removed to view the check and pay stub. And you save time by having the checks ready to hand to employees without needless time wasted stuffing and sealing. Contact Vision Payroll today to get your checks delivered in our self-seal checks and have more time to do what you do best.