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Payroll

Use EFTPS to Make a Payment With an Amended Return

10/01/2011
If you’ve filed Form 941-X or another amended return, and you must make a tax payment for an old calendar quarter, you may use the IRS’ Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS).

Get your 1099-MISC year-end procedures in place now

10/01/2011
Big changes are coming to the year-end independent contractor reporting process.

Taxes and W-2 reporting after death?

10/01/2011
Question: We owe wages to a former employee who died this year. To whom do we make the check payable? What about filing a W-2?

IRS grants generous treatment to business use of cell phones

10/01/2011
Employers that have a noncompensatory business purpose for providing cell phones or related equipment—that includes smartphones and personal digital assistants—to employees may treat their business use as a tax-free working condition fringe benefit and their personal use as a tax-free de mini­mis fringe benefit.

Feds offer partial amnesty for contractor misclassification

09/27/2011
If you’ve been worried that some of your workers may be incorrectly classified as independent contractors, but leery about opening a legal can of worms to fix potential problems, Uncle Sam is offering to cut you a break. Learn about a new program designed to help you get your records in order—and avoid penalties.

Year-end payroll planning: 10 steps to ease the crunch

09/19/2011
Year-end can be a hectic time for HR and payroll professionals. Accom­­plish these year-end tasks now, and the last few months of 2011 will run much more smoothly.

How can we recoup stolen money?

09/16/2011
Q. We just fired an employee after discovering that he stole $5,000 from the company. Do we have to pay the employee his final paycheck or can we apply that paycheck toward the $5,000 he owes us?

Employees’ SSNs off limits in FLSA litigation

09/13/2011
The time to confirm employees’ Social Security numbers is when they’re hired, not when you’re slapped with a lawsuit for unpaid overtime and minimum wage violations. A federal trial court has ruled that an employer was out of bounds in requesting this information.

2012 FICA wage base, employee tax rate

09/02/2011
The Social Security Administration has announced that the taxable wage base for the Social Security portion of FICA will increase to $110,100 in 2012. That’s a 3.1% hike over the 2011 wage base of $106,800. The tax rate for the employee portion of payroll taxes stands at 4.2% … at least through Feb. 29.

Pizza Hut employees clock in using fingerprint biometrics

08/25/2011

At 118 Pizza Hut restaurants in South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia, employees give their fingerprints instead of ID numbers to clock in and out for the day. The restaurants are using Digital­Persona fingerprint readers for transactions like overrides, voids and discount authorizations.