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Payroll

In the Payroll Mailbag: March ’25

02/19/2025
Vendors relentlessly market their wellness plans to employers, intentionally misrepresenting or not understanding the payroll rules. You’d be wise to not take vendors’ claims at face value. Two questions illustrate.

You can hit a three-point shot every time

02/19/2025
College basketball players (pros, too) strive to hit three-point shots, but they’re rare. You can hit the basket and score three points every time if you take care of these items now.

Please explain: Paycheck etiquette

02/19/2025
Most employees have their pay direct-deposited. This doesn’t matter to the dwindling few who still insist on paper checks. For them, there is little you can do except honor their wishes. But paper checks create unique headaches.

Employee or independent contractor? When Section 530 relief applies

02/19/2025
Section 530 is a significant safe harbor, but its scope is narrow. The key to Section 530 relief is how you treat workers, not what or how you pay them.

Beware high fees associated with alternative pay methods

02/07/2025
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has launched a lawsuit alleging that providers of wage-payment methods are charging exorbitant fees to workers who receive their pay via alternative means such as debit cards.

March 2025: Employer’s business tax calendar

01/31/2025
Here’s your monthly guide to critical payroll due dates.

The catch with the IRS’ proposed catch-up contributions regs

01/27/2025
Proposed regulations implementing SECURE 2.0’s requirement that employees earning more than $145,000 (as adjusted for inflation) make catch-up contributions on a Roth, after-tax basis come loaded with warnings and extra payroll responsibilities.

New DOL opinion letter tackles garnishment

01/24/2025
A new opinion letter from the Department of Labor has clarified how employers must calculate wages from which garnishment deductions are made. The letter explains that employers must not include tuition reimbursements in wages subject to garnishment.

In the Payroll Mailbag: February ’25

01/23/2025
Tax-free business meals or taxable working lunch? … Are rent subsidies tax-free?

Experimental treatments are covered under the FMLA

01/23/2025
The Department of Labor has concluded in a letter to a medical organization that FMLA-covered leave taken by an employee with a serious health condition includes leave to participate in an experimental medical treatment.