• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Payroll

HRAs Off the Hook for Annual Waiver Limits

10/01/2011
For plan years beginning Sept. 23, 2011, unless the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grants a waiver, group health plans that impose annual or lifetime limits on the dollar value of essential benefits are restricted to imposing an annual limit of $1.25 million.

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.