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Payroll

New employee, old debt: Is pay-back of previous Section 127 benefits taxable?

01/15/2014
Q: A new employee must now pay back money she received from her old employer as a Section 127 educational benefit. We will assume this debt as part of our hiring agreement. The hiring manager said that since this was originally a tax-free benefit, nothing is taxable. This doesn’t sound right to me. Who’s correct?

Can we withhold double the cost of unreturned equipment from employee’s final paycheck?

01/03/2014
Q. Our employee handbook states, “If you do not return a piece of property we will withhold from your final paycheck the cost of replacing that piece of property.” One of our employees recently quit on the spot. My boss wants to almost double the actual replacement cost of the item. Can we do this?

January 2014: Employer’s business tax calendar

12/27/2013
NOTE: Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays as observed in the District of Columbia are taken into account to determine due dates. Under the federal deposit rules, you’re allowed a deposit shortfall of the greater of $100 or 2% of your tax liability.

Are retreat prizes taxable income?

12/24/2013
Q. We hold a team-building retreat every year where we give employees prizes after completing certain challenges. Are those prizes considered taxable income?

The 2014 Payroll Checklist

12/18/2013

Year-end for Payroll and Accounts Payable doesn’t just begin in the third quarter, ramp up in the fourth quarter and wind down at the end of the first quarter of the next year. Year-end is, really, a year-long process. Download our 2014 Payroll Checklist to help guide you through each pay period, month and calendar quarter.

IRS to begin enforcing tip vs. service charge rule in 2014

12/18/2013
Regardless of what you call it, tips are amounts customers willingly determine and leave of their own accord; service charges, sometimes called automatic tips, are added to the bill. Tips are taxable when employees report them to their employers; service charges are immediately taxable. The IRS will begin enforcing this rule on Jan. 1, 2014.

Are retirement incentives in lieu of health benefits reportable?

12/16/2013
Question: Employees have three retirement incentives from which to choose: The company picks up their health benefit contributions for three years, they can take a lump-sum payment that equals our single premium rate for up to three years or they can keep their current health benefits and get a prorated cash payout. What’s reportable on their W-2s?

Is there anything special about issuing early W-2s?

12/11/2013
Question: An employee who was let go last month requested an early 2013 W-2. I know we have 30 days to comply with his request. What notation should we put on the form to show that it’s not an “official form”?

Memo to the Payroll Santa: Please make W-2s easy this year

12/09/2013
Holiday catalogs have been piling up on your entry hall table for quite some time now. So it must be getting down to W-2 crunch time for Payroll. Here’s the scoop on what you need to know to ensure a smooth W-2 process.

You: Payroll’s elf on a shelf

12/04/2013
Since you don’t have an elf to take care of all the December year-end payroll details, you have to do it yourself. Here’s help getting started.