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Payroll

In the Payroll Mailbag: February ’20

01/16/2020
Are leave donations to a local charity taxable? … What qualifies as a tax-free achievement award?

Special analysis: Good records save tax penalties

01/16/2020
Tax audits are all about your records. Have good, accurate and complete records and you will walk away from an audit relatively unscathed. Have sloppy, incomplete and inaccurate records and you will needlessly pay tax penalties. Two cases are illustrative.

New NACHA protocol squelches direct deposit phishing

01/16/2020
NACHA—the electronic payments organization behind all electronic banking transactions, including direct deposit—has developed a standard, voluntary protocol to help employees’ banks fight direct deposit-related ID theft.

February 2020: Employer’s business tax calendar

12/19/2019
Here’s your monthly guide to critical payroll due dates.

Final regs cover 401(k) hardship distributions

12/19/2019
401(k) plans may allow employees who are in financial difficulty to take hardship distributions. Final regulations, which implement portions of the 2018 Budget Act and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, ease up on the criteria for these distributions.

Mailing addresses for Form 945 have changed

12/19/2019
You must file Form 945 for 2019 if you withheld income taxes from nonwage payments, like pensions, or backup withheld income taxes on payments to independent contractors.

In the Payroll Mailbag: January ’20

12/19/2019
Age before taxes on group-term life? … Taxable or not: jackets with company logos?

Flu days and the FMLA don’t always go together

12/19/2019
According to the Department of Labor in an opinion letter to an inquiring employer, you can require employees to take unpaid FMLA leave, even if they’d rather use paid sick leave.

To prenote or not to prenote? That is the question

12/19/2019
In the past, employers used to prenote, which entailed sending a blank file to employees’ banks before the first live direct deposit transaction. Snag: Prenoting has fallen out of favor.

Trends to watch for in 2020 at the IRS

12/19/2019
Payroll has moved to center stage at the IRS. Here are changes to watch for this year.