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Payroll

Master compliance challenges that follow natural disasters

10/18/2017
Unless planned and executed properly, employers’ emergency procedures may run afoul of many federal, state and local employment laws.

2018 FICA wage base, withholding allowances, retirement contributions

09/28/2017

The Social Security Administration has announced that the taxable wage base for the Social Security portion of FICA will increase to $128,700 in 2018. The amount employees can contribute to 401(k) and 403(b) retirement accounts will increase to $18,500 for 2018.

All-States Chart on Worker Classification Tests

08/28/2017
To ensure that you stay on the right side of worker classificiation, this chart lists the states and the tests they use to determine workers’ status.

October 2017: Employer’s business tax calendar

08/24/2017
Here’s your monthly guide to critical payroll due dates.

401(k) plan loans: Figuring the payback is a @#$%&!

08/24/2017
The IRS generally frowns on 401(k) plans that allow employees to take out loans. And it has come down like a hammer when employees whose accounts hold more than $100,000 in vested benefits take out multiple loans during the same year.

In the Payroll Mailbag …

08/24/2017
Employee name/SSN mismatch problems … Can a bonus be withheld for child support? … I-9s for temps and distance workers

California on track for FUTA credit reduction

08/24/2017
California is the last state standing from the 2008 economic downturn to be liable for a FUTA reduction, since it has yet to repay loans it took out to shore up its unemployment trust fund.

Swindled payroll clients come up short in the end

08/24/2017
The IRS does not have to return to a bankruptcy estate a bankrupt payroll service bureau’s tax deposits that were collected from clients, but that were embezzled, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Slam the door on scammers this year-end season

08/24/2017
There’s one overriding concern you need to worry about as year-end approaches—stopping scammers from getting into your payroll records. And scammers have become increasingly sophisticated, as last summer’s ransomware attacks have shown.

What happens when payday is on a holiday?

08/02/2017
Q. Our wage payment deadline falls on the first Monday of September this year, which is Labor Day. By when must a company make payments to meet its deadline and avoid penalties when its payment date falls on a holiday?