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Payroll

Please don’t pet the frogs

04/17/2024
Employees who send their kids to day camp can reap a double bonus: Their kids will be entertained and their dependent care assistance plans can pick up some of the cost, up to the $5,000 annual limit.

Payroll pro & con: Switching third-party providers

04/17/2024
Outsourcing payroll operations to a third party is a common business strategy. Of course, you remain liable to the IRS and state tax agencies if your third-party payroll provider gets it wrong and there’s no indemnity clause in your service contract. You may also find yourself needing to switch providers. How do you evaluate a third party if you’re thinking of switching?

It’s a blizzard out there!

04/17/2024
Payroll managers whose companies take on summer hires know the feeling. Questions about W-4s and I-9s from new members of the tax-paying community are just the beginning. Use this checklist to bring order to the summer hiring process.

Direct deposit is a success; you should be worried

04/17/2024
Congratulations: Upwards of 90% of employees have their pay direct deposited. Your job now is to keep them there. To do this, you must confront four interlocking challenges: hacking, mistakes, technology and state laws allowing employees to opt out and receive paper checks.

Summer hires: Keeping it all in the family

04/17/2024
Family businesses usually don’t have to look very far for summer employees. And while hiring your kids can pay dividends for both of you, don’t make the same mistakes many family businesses make when they hire their kids: picking up their credit card bills or other personal expenses, calling them wages and deducting them as salary expenses.

May 2024: Employer’s business tax calendar

03/31/2024
Here’s your monthly guide to critical payroll due dates.

Last Friday in March wrap: Regs limit certain health insurance policies, exceptions to IRS’ 45-day notice rule and more

03/29/2024
Consumer-protection notices, IRS third-party contacts and more as March winds down.

FY 2024 IRS appropriations bill includes payroll provisions

03/26/2024
Congress managed to keep the lights on through Sept. 30—the end of the federal government’s 2024 fiscal year—by passing two minibus (as opposed to an omnibus) appropriations bills. The second minibus, which passed last weekend, includes funding for the IRS and two provisions intended to protect employers from fraud committed by unscrupulous third-party payroll providers.

Get a head start on preparing to handle summer-hire paperwork

03/25/2024
Seasonal staff may only be part of your organization for a couple of months, but they generate almost all the same paperwork regular employees do. Don’t wait until the last minute to prepare for the annual onslaught of summer hires and interns. Start collaborating now with your colleagues in payroll to set up processes for these following tasks.

In the Payroll Mailbag: April ’24

03/20/2024
How do you withhold on commissions? … Can an employee be exempt from Medicare taxes?