THE NORTHSTAR NEWS
Recap of November 2003 meeting
Reported by Patrick White, CPP
Northstar Chapter Director of Communications
Our ½ day meeting on November 20th
started promptly at 8am, with opening remarks from chapter President Sharlene
Smith CPP and Vice President Karen Kline CPP. 113 members were in attendance.
Sharlene began by sharing a quote came
across recently—“happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.”
J She welcomed several first-time attendees, asking them to stand up and be
recognized.
CEU certificates were not yet available, so
Sharlene noted that they would either be available at the December meeting, or
sent to those members unable to attend next month. (After the meeting,
officer Barb Batt volunteered to mail the
certificates automatically to everyone who attended this month. There is no
need to contact the chapter to request yours if you’re unable to attend the
December meeting.)
Karen mentioned that our
December community
outreach effort is
Toys for Tots.
She asked members planning to attend next month’s meeting to consider bringing
an unwrapped toy, and she noted that toys for older children are especially
needed. If members are unable to shop for a toy, the chapter will be happy to
accept cash or a check for the cause instead.
Terry Meggitt
CPP noted that the chapter will soon be selling “The Payroll Source” and several
other APA publications at significant discounts from the published price.
Details will be available sometime in the next several weeks on our web site.
The topic for the extended meeting was
Year-End 2003. Program chair Barb Muellerleile, CPP introduced the
panel of speakers conducting the session.
The full PowerPoint presentation of
the program is available here
(link opens a new window). Members without access to
PowerPoint
may email the chapter requesting a hardcopy version—please include your full
mailing address. Additional comments mentioned by the presenters during the
session are noted here, along with references to the related section of the
PowerPoint notes:
Year End Preparation/Checklists/SSN
Verification - Dominique Falks CPP
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Remember the IT
department in our year-end committee. If we expect to be in the office on a
weekend printing W-2s, we don’t want them taking the servers down (slide 8).
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When scheduling
final 2003 payrolls (or anytime during the year), you may refer to IRS Pub 509
for a list of Federal legal holidays--available at
www.irs.gov (slide 9). |
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A reminder that
we do have option of charging employees a fee for a replacement W-2
copy…Dominique has heard of amounts ranging anywhere from $5-$50. It’s also a
good idea to communicate a policy regarding the schedule of when the
replacements will be generated, to manage employees’ expectations and avoid
further phone calls (slide 22). |
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The importance to
the Federal government of accurate names/SSNs on
W-2s was noted. The Social Security Administration (SSA) received 10 million
W-2s last year that could not be matched to a valid SS account, and to date
there is over $382 billion in their ‘suspense’ account of unallocated payroll
tax contributions (slide 27). |
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If we receive
a SSN/name mismatch notice from the SSA on our
employee, this is not a valid cause for dismissing them. Taking such action
violates federal and some state employment discrimination laws. The SSA will
only tell you if a name and number doesn’t match. They will not tell you
what, if any, part of the name/number combination does match (slide
27). |
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The
SSA’s MMREF-1 electronic file format is for W-2s.
The MMREF-2 format is for W-2Cs (slide 32). |
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The North
Carolina unemployment tax wage base is $16,200 for 2004 (slides 44-45). |
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North Dakota
requires service providers to file their W-2s electronically. However, their
interpretation of ‘electronic’ refers to what we think of as magnetic media or
email, not internet reporting (slide 50). |
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The ETGGRA
catch-up provision limitation for Sec 457 plans is $3,000 in 2004 (slide 55).
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When we establish
or change our password with the SSA for electronic or magnetic media filing,
don’t forget to note exactly when we did this. They require us to
change it (again) within a one-year period in order to access our PIN number
for filing (slide 74). |
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Before filing
W-2s with the SSA electronically, a test file may be sent to them. This is
just to see if the transmission method is working and they actually receive
it. It can be any kind of file (Excel, etc.) containing meaningless data
within (slide 77). |
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The IRS FIRE
system is used for filing non-wage returns (1099s, W-2Gs, etc) electronically
(slide 79). |
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If an employee
does not have an SSN at the time W-2s are due, the
words “APPLIED FOR” may be placed in the related box on the form (slide 113). |
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401(k)
contributions must be reported in box 12 code D. Newly allowed qualified
retirement plan (401k, etc) provisions allowing participants to contribute a
much large percentage of their pay to the plan is causing greater numbers of
employees to exceed their calendar-year contribution limits, if they worked
for more than one employer during that year. To avoid having to correct for
this, as an employer it is recommended that if we sponsor such plans, we
should require mid-year new hires to complete some form of written declaration
indicating how much they have contributed to their prior employer’s plan
during that year. This allows us to place a limit in our payroll system
capping what they may contribute for the rest of the year (slide 116).
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Keep returned
undeliverable employee copy W-2s on file for at least 4 years. |
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Terry noted that
he has a spreadsheet that will assist in calculating gross-up payments, as
well as one that may be used for balancing quarterly/year-end filing
information. Members who would like a copy should email him requesting the
information. |
