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Payroll

May is direct deposit month

04/24/2012
To encourage employees to sign up for checkless paydays, the federal government declared May direct deposit month. As government declarations go, it’s been a success—most employees do have their pay deposited directly into their bank accounts. Most isn’t all, however.

Picnic payroll problems … more bothersome than ants

04/23/2012
Forget the overdone hamburgers and warm soda. Payroll problems can arise even around the most hallowed of institutions, the annual company picnic.

If you hire your kids, be the boss, not the parent

04/17/2012
It’s almost summer, and some lucky kids will be working in their families’ businesses. Sole proprietors and partnerships where both spouses are partners can get some special payroll tax breaks for hiring their kids. But, regardless of your business structure, you must follow a few rules to keep the IRS out of your hair.

IRS reclassification program: more questions than answers

04/13/2012

Under the IRS’ Voluntary Classification Settlement Program (VCSP), you may change workers’ status from independent contractors to employees for future tax periods on favorable tax terms, without in­­curring penalties or interest. Now, however, new questions have arisen. Unfortunately, there are no easy answers.

Free but taxable? Frequent-flier miles raise questions at IRS

04/12/2012
It’s a frequently recurring headache for employers and the IRS: Determining whether the value of frequent-flier miles employees accumulate when they travel on business is a tax-free fringe benefit or taxable compensation. Share this latest guidance with your colleagues in the payroll department.

April showers and Form 941: Wow, it must be spring!

04/03/2012
April is the cruelest month not because it rains ­buckets, but because it’s time to file your first-quarter Form 941, Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return. Here’s help for Payroll:

CPA’s claim crashes, owes body shop’s payroll taxes

04/02/2012
A federal trial court has ruled that an auto body shop’s inside CPA/controller was personally responsible for 100% of its unpaid payroll taxes. It was enough, the court said, that the CPA had some authority over the company’s finances; exclusive authority wasn’t necessary.

2012 State Direct Deposit/Paycard Laws

04/01/2012
State laws usually require that employee participation in direct deposit or paycard programs must be voluntary. States may also allow paycard vendors to charge employees fees, beginning with the second transaction. This chart summarizes the states’ direct deposit/paycard rules. “Mandatory” means that a state allows you to make e-payment a condition of employment, if you choose. States that don’t have laws aren’t included. In all cases, contact your state labor department for the full story.

Form 941-M filers off the hook, but other sanctions may apply

04/01/2012
The IRS has retired Form 941-M, which is filed monthly by employers with serious payroll compliance problems. Also retired are the special deposit rules, which required deposits to be made into a special trust fund account within two banking days of payday.

Rocky Mount company faces huge pay lawsuit in California

03/23/2012
Rocky Mount-based Premier Ware­­housing Ventures is being sued over pay practices at its former facility in Jurupa Valley, Calif. Premier no longer operates the facility, but current and former employees have filed a lawsuit alleging wage-and-hour violations dating back to 2003.