Payroll

5 ways employers should respond to wage garnishments

10/20/2014

While the economy is finally waking up from the Great Recession, millions of Americans are still feeling the hangover in the form of wage garnishments. What if a lender wants a piece of your employee’s paycheck? Here are five tips.

All large employers on the 2015 health care reporting hot seat

10/20/2014

Now is the time to make decisions regarding information reporting, since the first returns are due in 2016.

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.