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Payroll

Follow-up on immigration enforcement

02/27/2025
We’ve already covered the new administration’s immigration enforcement priorities. But there’s more to consider.

SECURE 2.0 challenge, part 11: Auto-enrollment 401(k) plans

02/25/2025
The IRS has already released key guidance on SECURE 2.0’s mandate that all 401(k) plans established after Dec. 29, 2022, be auto-enrollment plans, beginning with the 2025 plan year. Proposed regulations now round out and encompass this previous guidance.

In the Payroll Mailbag: March ’25

02/19/2025
Vendors relentlessly market their wellness plans to employers, intentionally misrepresenting or not understanding the payroll rules. You’d be wise to not take vendors’ claims at face value. Two questions illustrate.

You can hit a three-point shot every time

02/19/2025
College basketball players (pros, too) strive to hit three-point shots, but they’re rare. You can hit the basket and score three points every time if you take care of these items now.

Please explain: Paycheck etiquette

02/19/2025
Most employees have their pay direct-deposited. This doesn’t matter to the dwindling few who still insist on paper checks. For them, there is little you can do except honor their wishes. But paper checks create unique headaches.

Employee or independent contractor? When Section 530 relief applies

02/19/2025
Section 530 is a significant safe harbor, but its scope is narrow. The key to Section 530 relief is how you treat workers, not what or how you pay them.

Beware high fees associated with alternative pay methods

02/07/2025
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has launched a lawsuit alleging that providers of wage-payment methods are charging exorbitant fees to workers who receive their pay via alternative means such as debit cards.

The ERC: Not in the news, but definitely not forgotten

02/03/2025
The IRS is still plugging away at processing those Forms 941-X on which the employee retention credit is claimed. But it’s been busy doing other things, too, like ratcheting up its compliance efforts by sending out ERC recapture letters, which is exactly what it sounds like—the IRS wants its credits back, and if you don’t give them back voluntarily, it will take them.

March 2025: Employer’s business tax calendar

01/31/2025
Here’s your monthly guide to critical payroll due dates.

Bye-bye, so long, farewell: What to do with terminated employees’ 401(k) assets

01/30/2025
You have a fiduciary duty to at least try to locate employees who left their 401(k) plan assets behind when they terminated. The IRS and the DOL list measures that will satisfy this fiduciary duty, but what if you take any or all of those steps and still draw a blank?