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Payroll

Employee or independent contractor? When Section 530 relief applies

02/19/2025
Section 530 is a significant safe harbor, but its scope is narrow. The key to Section 530 relief is how you treat workers, not what or how you pay them.

Beware high fees associated with alternative pay methods

02/07/2025
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has launched a lawsuit alleging that providers of wage-payment methods are charging exorbitant fees to workers who receive their pay via alternative means such as debit cards.

The ERC: Not in the news, but definitely not forgotten

02/03/2025
The IRS is still plugging away at processing those Forms 941-X on which the employee retention credit is claimed. But it’s been busy doing other things, too, like ratcheting up its compliance efforts by sending out ERC recapture letters, which is exactly what it sounds like—the IRS wants its credits back, and if you don’t give them back voluntarily, it will take them.

March 2025: Employer’s business tax calendar

01/31/2025
Here’s your monthly guide to critical payroll due dates.

Bye-bye, so long, farewell: What to do with terminated employees’ 401(k) assets

01/30/2025
You have a fiduciary duty to at least try to locate employees who left their 401(k) plan assets behind when they terminated. The IRS and the DOL list measures that will satisfy this fiduciary duty, but what if you take any or all of those steps and still draw a blank?

The catch with the IRS’ proposed catch-up contributions regs

01/27/2025
Proposed regulations implementing SECURE 2.0’s requirement that employees earning more than $145,000 (as adjusted for inflation) make catch-up contributions on a Roth, after-tax basis come loaded with warnings and extra payroll responsibilities.

New DOL opinion letter tackles garnishment

01/24/2025
A new opinion letter from the Department of Labor has clarified how employers must calculate wages from which garnishment deductions are made. The letter explains that employers must not include tuition reimbursements in wages subject to garnishment.

In the Payroll Mailbag: February ’25

01/23/2025
Tax-free business meals or taxable working lunch? … Are rent subsidies tax-free?

Experimental treatments are covered under the FMLA

01/23/2025
The Department of Labor has concluded in a letter to a medical organization that FMLA-covered leave taken by an employee with a serious health condition includes leave to participate in an experimental medical treatment.

Employer group not tax-exempt—employee discounts are taxable

01/23/2025
Small employers can band together for such laudable purposes as holding blood drives, flu-shot clinics or holiday toy drives. But there are limits to what a group of employers can do if it seeks tax-exempt status.