Payroll

Keep your cool and vanquish your tough summer pay problems

05/15/2013

It’s summertime soon, and the Payroll living is anything but easy. Every employee wants off at the same time (not gonna happen!). Unpaid interns flood the office … Here’s what you need to know to keep Payroll running smoothly this summer.

Your gift for newlyweds: Fresh HR paperwork

05/14/2013

If you have employees who are getting hitched soon, help them start married life right by getting their HR documents in order. The problem: Brides who take their husbands’ names and couples with hyphenated names suddenly don’t match a host of records.

Failing to pay workers on time may cost you a big penalty

05/09/2013

In Minnesota, employees are supposed to be paid promptly and receive an accounting of their time worked. Failure to comply may mean you’ll have to pay a penalty.

How should we apply the pretax contribution limits for 401(k)s?

05/09/2013

Q: An employee has asked if she can continue to make pretax contributions into her 401(k) plan even after her compensation reaches the annual salary limit of $255,000. Our benefits department has never encountered this question before. Can she do so?

Is it OK for employees to donate leave pay to deceased employee’s relatives?

05/06/2013

Q: One of our employees died. Our HR manager would like to allow employees to donate their vacation time to the family and she’s asked Payroll for some guidelines. What can we tell her?

Can an “additional amount” on the W-4 be a percentage?

05/03/2013

Question: We recently acquired a new company. Our payroll system kicked out an acquired employee’s W-4 form. He claims single status-99 with an additional 20% on his form. This W-4 seems contrary to wording on the W-4 itself. What do we tell him?

Know the regs that help avoid ACA free-rider penalties

05/02/2013

The bottom line for you to avoid free-rider penalties under the Affordable Care Act is not to have employees obtain health insurance on the individual exchange and qualify for premium tax credits or other cost sharing reductions.

Can the company ‘profit’ from the share of health premiums charged to employees?

05/01/2013

Q. After several large health insurance claims last year, our president decided to increase the premiums deducted from employees’ paychecks. However, the rate he has directed to be deducted is higher than the rate at which we are billed for the spouse and dependent coverage. Is it legal to make money off of the “premiums” we ask employees to pay?

AFL-CIO opposes banning deductions for PAC funding

05/01/2013

The Texas chapter of the AFL-CIO is opposing a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives that would criminalize payroll deductions for contributions to political action committees.

Sequester hits tax-exempts’ health tax credit

04/25/2013

The automatic federal budget cuts that took effect on March 1, known as the sequester, reduce the refundable portion of 501(c) tax-exempt organizations’ health care tax credit by 8.7%, according to the IRS.