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Compensation & Benefits

In the Payroll Mailbag …

05/25/2017
Gift cards from HR … Fixing three years’ worth of miscalculated benefits

401(k) robo-advisers: Press 1 for investment advice

05/25/2017
It’s becoming increasingly hard to find a human to talk to when you pick up the phone. It was inevitable that automated advisers—called robo-advisers—would seep into the 401(k) arena.

Paying by installments just got more expensive

05/25/2017
If you can’t pay your back payroll taxes all at once, you may enter into an installment agreement with the IRS and pay them off over time. Bad news: The fees for entering into installment agreements have increased precipitously.

One missing comma = $10 million FLSA liability

05/25/2017
The lack of one pesky comma can sure cause a great deal of trouble. A federal appeals court has ruled that Maine’s overtime law, which omits a comma from a list of overtime-exempt activities, meant that employees were entitled to overtime, after all.

‘Gross receipts’ & other items clarified for research credit

05/25/2017
You say you’re a small start-up company that’s eligible for the payroll tax research credit? Not so fast: The IRS has provided interim guidance on how to figure gross receipts for purposes of this credit.

First-time penalty? Here’s what to do

05/25/2017
The IRS will almost always abate a first-time penalty for failing to deposit payroll taxes, but you must have established a good track record beforehand.

Electronic signatures: To PIN or not to PIN

05/25/2017
How many ways are there for you to electronically sign payroll returns that will allow your third party to e-file on your behalf? At least two, according to newly revised Forms 8879-EMP and 8453-EMP.

Glitch for PTO banks: Constructive receipt

05/25/2017
Before you take the leap into PTOs, two private letter rulings from the IRS may temper your enthusiasm for them by dredging up the dreaded concept of constructive receipt.

IRS ramping up 100% penalties for payroll tax violations

05/25/2017
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has made five recommendations to the IRS on improving the Sec. 6672 assessment process. Bad news: The IRS has agreed to implement four of them. Bottom line: Expect more 100% penalty assessments

A Swedish sigh of … relief?

05/25/2017
Employers in the Swedish village of Övertorneå may have been alone in cheering the town council’s recent decision not to mandate weekly one-hour paid sex breaks.