Payroll

Scrap the ice scraper; allow employees to telecommute

12/18/2015

There isn’t a worse sound than someone scraping ice off their windshield at 6:30 in the morning. You don’t have to make employees choose between taking a snow day and working, if you allow them to work from home. While you’re crafting a telecommuting policy, don’t forget the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Download this worksheet for 2015 Forms W-3/941

12/17/2015

Use this worksheet to reconcile your four quarterly 941s and W-2s, so the amounts you report to the SSA and the IRS match.

2016 tax data–knowledge is power

12/17/2015

The IRS has released the tax information employees need to more closely match their 2016 withholding to their 2016 income tax liability.

Give employees easy access to paystub info

12/16/2015

You must provide all employees easy access to their pay records. It’s not enough to tell workers they can log in from a computer at home or elsewhere. Give them a place at work where they can easily and quickly check their pay.

Tax season means ID theft; here’s how you can stop it

12/15/2015

The opening of tax season is a bonanza for identity thieves. The IRS and state tax agencies are determined to cut down on so-called stolen identity refund fraud, or SIRF for short. You can catch this wave, too, and help employees guard their personal identifying information.

3 states subject to FUTA credit reductions for 2015

12/14/2015

Three states are on the 2015 FUTA credit reduction hit list.

SSA and DOL adopt administrative garnishments

12/10/2015

If an employee owes a nontax debt to the federal government, the creditor agency may issue an administrative garnishment to you to collect the debt. The Social Security Administration and the Department of Labor are the latest agencies to use administrative garnishments.

Winter turns up heat on pay compliance

12/09/2015

The Fair Labor Standards Act is generally a fairly straightforward law—for most of the year. But winter weather—and the delays and closures that sometimes accompany it—can make wage-and-hour compliance more difficult.

IRS Releases 2016 Notice 1036

12/08/2015

The IRS has released the 2016 Notice 1036, which contains the official 2016 withholding allowance amounts, the amount to add to nonresident alien employees’ wages for calculating their income tax withholding and the percentage method withholding tables.

Pennsylvania bill would allow paying staff via debit cards

12/01/2015

A proposal by Pennsylvania State Sen. Don White, chairman of the Banking and Insurance Committee, would allow employers to pay employees with debit cards rather than paychecks. The legislation would require granting employees free access to all of their wages.