Payroll

Is there a formula for grossing up benefits for same-sex partners?

12/02/2012

Q: The company grosses up the fair market value of health benefits provided to employees’ same-sex domestic partners. One employee already had family coverage for his children before he enrolled his partner. How is the gross up calculated, if the cost of coverage doesn’t increase because the plan charges employees a flat amount for family coverage, regardless of the number of individuals covered?

Clients out of luck to recover embezzled payroll deposits

11/30/2012

A court has ruled that the IRS doesn’t have to return to defrauded clients a bankrupt payroll service bureau’s tax deposits that were collected from them but were used to make deposits for other clients. The defrauded clients, therefore, have paid twice …

Hello, SSA? Can you help me? I need to delete a file

11/29/2012

If you need to delete a file that was sent by mistake, the Social Security Administration doesn’t want to hear from you anymore. Instead, you can delete any file prior to processing through the SSA’s Submission Status app.

New IRS ruling differentiates between tips, service charges

11/28/2012

Regardless of what you call it, tips are amounts customers willingly determine and leave of their own accord; service charges are added to the bill. According to a new IRS revenue ruling, service charges are immediately taxable as wages; tips are taxable when employees report them to you.

You can do it! How to build a better W-2

11/27/2012

This year, completing W-2 forms will be even more challenging for employers that must report employees’ health benefits. Here’s the scoop on what you need to know to get W-2s right the first time.

1 employee, 2 employers and health benefits: How many W-2s?

11/23/2012

Question: How do we report an employee’s health benefits if he transferred between two divisions of the same company, and each division has its own Employer Identification Number? Must each division report separately, or can we combine this information and report it on one W-2?

Holiday bonuses: When it’s OK to pass the buck

11/19/2012

Commercials for holiday gifts have been running on TV since at least Halloween. So naturally, employees are making their lists and checking them twice. Perhaps they’re counting on a holiday bonus to pay for it all. If holiday bonuses are in your future, be sure to cover these bases.

IRS faces tough choices for 2013 withholding tables

11/16/2012

Next year is shaping up to be complicated for the IRS. The question: Should the IRS issue the withholding tables based on what the law says is supposed to happen on Jan. 1—the expiration of most income tax rates—or keep the rates the same, and assume that Congress will come to some agreement about the rate structure?

Cause for Thanksgiving: You control Payroll destiny

11/15/2012

As you’re feasting on your Thanksgiving dinner this year, don’t let year-end responsibilities eat you up. You can ease year-end Payroll concerns by ticking off some key tasks now.

New York loosens limits on payroll deductions

11/11/2012

The New York General Assembly has amended Section 193 of the New York Labor Law to allow employers to make payroll deductions for a wider variety of items. The amendment lets employers deduct the cost of an array of employee benefits previously barred by the state code.