Payroll

Employees allege employer cut hours to avoid ACA liability

01/13/2016

Can you zero out the Affordable Care Act’s mandate to provide 95% of full-time employees—those who work at least 30 hours a week—with group health benefits by cutting their work hours, so that they’re no longer considered full-time employees? One employer that allegedly did so is now defending itself against a class action lawsuit.

January 2016: Employer’s business tax calendar

12/31/2015

Here’s your monthly guide to critical payroll due dates.

The Tax Court takes a snow day

12/23/2015

It snowed a lot during the winter of 2015. In fact, it snowed so much that the Tax Court ruled that a taxpayer’s petition was timely filed even though it was one day late, because the federal government was closed for a snow day on the day the petition was due.

FY2016 budget bill provides funding for HR-related issues, taxes

12/21/2015

The omnibus spending bill that President Obama signed Dec. 18 did more than fund the federal government for 2016 and delay implementation of the Affordable Care Act’s “Cadillac tax.” The massive legislation—it’s both a tax bill and an appropriations bill—addresses hundreds of measures affected by the federal budget.

Payroll year-end 2015 … on your mark, get set, go!

12/19/2015

By Feb. 1, employees must receive their W-2s, and the IRS must receive your fourth-quarter Form 941 and Forms 940 and 945 (a Feb. 1 postmark is OK, too). So let’s get cracking.

Scrap the ice scraper; allow employees to telecommute

12/18/2015

There isn’t a worse sound than someone scraping ice off their windshield at 6:30 in the morning. You don’t have to make employees choose between taking a snow day and working, if you allow them to work from home. While you’re crafting a telecommuting policy, don’t forget the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Download this worksheet for 2015 Forms W-3/941

12/17/2015

Use this worksheet to reconcile your four quarterly 941s and W-2s, so the amounts you report to the SSA and the IRS match.

2016 tax data–knowledge is power

12/17/2015

The IRS has released the tax information employees need to more closely match their 2016 withholding to their 2016 income tax liability.

Give employees easy access to paystub info

12/16/2015

You must provide all employees easy access to their pay records. It’s not enough to tell workers they can log in from a computer at home or elsewhere. Give them a place at work where they can easily and quickly check their pay.

Tax season means ID theft; here’s how you can stop it

12/15/2015

The opening of tax season is a bonanza for identity thieves. The IRS and state tax agencies are determined to cut down on so-called stolen identity refund fraud, or SIRF for short. You can catch this wave, too, and help employees guard their personal identifying information.