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Payroll

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.

Draft ACA info forms create new headaches for Payroll

10/02/2014
Draft forms recently released by the IRS are designed to implement the Affordable Care Act’s information-reporting requirements. Watch out! Large employers—those with at least 50 full-time employees, including full-time equivalent employees—that don’t offer health insurance must file these forms and provide copies to employees.

October 2014: Employer’s business tax calendar

09/30/2014
This is your monthly guide to critical payroll due dates.

2015 Social Security wage base update

09/24/2014
The Social Security Administration is days away from releasing the 2015 Social Security taxable wage base.

How to fix E-Verify oversight?

09/17/2014
Q: An employer didn’t create cases in E-Verify for several years. The employer is again using its E-Verify account and creating cases. Should the employer create cases for employees who were hired while it wasn’t using E-Verify?

What’s a ‘payment’ for child-support withholding?

09/16/2014
Q: Employees exercise options and buy company stock. Is the value of the stock subject to child-support withholding? Is it as a lump-sum payment, or covered under the standard income withholding order?