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Payroll

Take a bite out of corporate travel expenses with per diems

10/17/2014
How can you keep employees out on the road without busting the company’s travel budget? You can get more bang for your travel buck if you use the federal government’s per diem rates.

Don’t be spooked by year-end Payroll tasks

10/15/2014
Trick or treat—it’s a very simple menu. To avoid a huge year-end trick, and have a sweet year-end, cross off these tasks from your to-do list.

Health benefit reporting on 2014 Forms W-2

10/15/2014
Here’s a downloadable breakdown of health benefits and whether you must report them. The IRS has clarified that even if a benefit isn’t reportable, you may voluntarily do so.

Enhanced pay report proposed for fed contractors

10/14/2014
The U.S. Department of Labor has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would require the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to collect pay data from federal contractors.

Regs allow more options for 401(k) distributions

10/13/2014
Retirees can’t keep their 401(k) pretax contributions dammed up forever; eventually they must take taxable distributions. Two new sets of final regulations allow 401(k) plans to provide retirees with more options than just pulling out the cash.

Delinquent child support drives the most wage garnishments

10/13/2014
About 7% of U.S. employees had some portion of their wages garnished in 2013, most frequently because they had fallen behind making child-support payments. Delinquent student loan payments were the most common “other” reason.

Special benefits analysis: Many perks pack hidden wages

10/09/2014
A recent survey of small businesses revealed that only 12% of employees were satisfied with their benefits packages. HR will surely take up the challenge by offering all sorts of new and revised benefits. That means you’ll be playing peekaboo with perks that should be taxed as wages.

Paycard best practices: How to get it right the first time

10/08/2014
Employers’ stumbles over implementing paycard programs have received too much publicity and push-back from the federal and state governments recently. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Draft ACA info forms create new headaches for Payroll

10/02/2014
Draft forms recently released by the IRS are designed to implement the Affordable Care Act’s information-reporting requirements. Watch out! Large employers—those with at least 50 full-time employees, including full-time equivalent employees—that don’t offer health insurance must file these forms and provide copies to employees.

October 2014: Employer’s business tax calendar

09/30/2014
This is your monthly guide to critical payroll due dates.