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Payroll

The summer doldrums don’t have to get you down

08/02/2012
August is a slog. Forget the heat and humidity by organizing your Payroll tasks for the next four months.

What’s the timing on E-Verify case files?

08/01/2012

Question: If employees don’t have List A, B or C documents and must use replacement receipts to verify their identify and work eligibility, when can the employer create a case file in E-Verify?

What are the options for verifying employees’ names/SSNs?

08/01/2012

Question: We verify employees’ names and Social Security numbers through the telephone number employer verification service (TNEV) and the paper option. Are these methods still available?

IRS provides sample Sec. 83(b) election form

08/01/2012

Payroll usually doesn’t withhold income and FICA taxes from employees who receive restricted stock until the restriction lapses and the stock vests. Under Section 83(b), however, employees can opt to have taxes withheld currently, long before the restriction lapses. The IRS has now provided sample language for an 83(b) election.

How can we stop the clock on off-the-clock work?

07/30/2012

How can an employer reduce its exposure to claims for off-the-clock work if employees use their own electronic devices for business purposes?

Could your time records withstand scrutiny?

07/27/2012

If you can’t show your time records are accurate, lawsuits claiming unpaid over­­time can get costly. That’s because—absent reliable employer records—courts will let employees fill in the timekeeping details. Make sure your records are easily ex­­plained and tamper-proof.

Everything you wanted to know about corporate taxes (but didn’t know how to ask)

07/26/2012
Payroll expense is a usually a company’s largest deductible expense. That’s a huge impact on the bottom line. But there’s a world of difference between payroll and corporate taxes, according to consultant Gretchen Inouye, CPP.

IRS clarifies $2,500 pretax limit to health FSAs

07/20/2012
The Affordable Care Act health care reform law limits employees’ pretax contributions into health flexible spending accounts (FSAs) to $2,500 for taxable years beginning after Dec. 31. The IRS has now clarified whose taxable year counted—the employee’s, the employer’s or the cafeteria plan’s.

IRS provides answers on the new 0.9% Medicare tax

07/16/2012
To pay for health care reform, high earners—single employees earning more than $200,000 and joint ­filers earning more than $250,000—will pay an additional 0.9% in Medicare taxes, for a total tax rate of 2.35%, beginning Jan. 1, 2013. The IRS has issued “Questions and Answers for the Additional Medicare Tax” to provide guidance.

Regs shed light on when to tax noncash compensation

07/06/2012

Under tax code Section 83, you don’t have to tax employees who receive company stock, stock options or other property that is subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture until the risk lapses and the property vests. Proposed regulations now define what counts as a substantial risk of forfeiture.