Payroll

Sometimes you can require repayment out of last check

02/26/2014

Do you offer a store credit card to your employees? If so, you likely want any balance due repaid if the employee quits or is fired. You may be able to get the employee’s agreement to repay the balance on termination out of his or her vacation or sick account balance.

Cover employee expenses–or prepare for court

02/26/2014

Now is a good time to make sure your employees are being properly reimbursed for expenses they incur while performing their jobs. The problem: If they aren’t reimbursed for those expenses, their pay may fall below minimum wage. And if that’s the case, they can quit and sue, alleging constructive discharge.

Et tu W-2? How to handle the reissue process

02/19/2014

Panicky phone calls to the Payroll department from employees who lost their original W-2s are about as predictable as the sun rising in the east. Here are some tips for controlling the reissued W-2 process.

TIGTA reports EIN fraud is bad and getting worse

02/18/2014

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has reported that during the 2011 tax year, 285,670 EINs were stolen or fraudulently used to claim income tax refunds totaling more than $2.25 billion. TIGTA also estimated that the IRS could issue $11.4 billion in tax refunds over the next five years due to EIN fraud.

Regulatory alert: What’s new from the IRS

02/17/2014

The IRS has been busy adding to its regulatory agenda. Here’s the latest news from the regulations front.

When is it OK to punish by docking pay?

02/13/2014

Q. May I dock an employee’s pay as a penalty for disciplinary infractions?

W-2 season isn’t over yet–now it’s W-2c time

02/13/2014

W-2s are filed with the Social Security Administration in winter. Corrections, which are made on Form W-2c, begin immediately thereafter. The earlier you fix errors on your W-2s, the less likely it is you’ll be penalized by the IRS.

New myRAs seek to spur retirement savings among low-income workers

02/10/2014

In his State of the Union address, President Obama announced that he was directing the Treasury Department to create “myRA”—a government-backed affordable “starter retirement savings account that will help millions of low- and middle-income Americans begin to save for retirement.”

Special analysis: Beware of employees who work interstate

02/07/2014

If you’re located in only one state, you never have to worry about withholding another state’s income taxes or applying another locality’s paid sick leave law, right? Not necessarily. It’s possible that you’ve become an interstate employer without knowing it.

Post-DOMA: Cafeteria plans given leeway for same-sex spouses

02/05/2014

Breathe a little easier if you have a cafeteria plan that, after the demise of the federal Defense of Marriage Act and before the IRS released guidance, allowed same-sex married employees to cover their spouses’ health insurance on a pretax basis or allowed them to seek reimbursement from health or dependent care flexible spending accounts.