How to Create a Payroll Procedures Manual! Presented by Max Muller!

Transcription

1 How to Create a Payroll Procedures Manual! Presented by Max Muller!

2 Overview! How to put it all together! Using the terminology! Employee distinction! How to eliminate improper actions! When to make an adjustment! How to chart policies!

3 Health Care Reform Act!» An initiative in this law increased! the number of IRS and Department! of Labor auditors to help audit 6,000! companies randomly chosen for! compliance audits.! An audit of a mail and package delivery company resulted in the government seeking more than $319 million for misclassification of its employees.! A company in Overland Park, KS, was audited by 4 different state unemployment agencies for the same violation.!

4 Misclassification!» 100 workers, 5 of them misclassified! Each worked 48 hours a week! Each earned $36,000 a year!» The Department of Labor decides to treat them as salaried nonexempt employees with fixed 40-hour workweeks.! $692.31! per week! $ should have been paid per week! $17.31! per hour! $ in overtime! $10, owed to each worker per year ($54, total)!

5 Fluctuating Workweek Method!» Your liability in the same example would drop because you would be paying the worker for all hours worked on a straight-time basis.!» The method is specifically permitted by the FLSA rules as outlined in 29 CFR !» The method has been prohibited in California and Missouri. In Pennsylvania, it cannot apply to workers on a weekly salary.!

6 New Laws!» The IRS started a new initiative that gives employers a chance to correct the problem before they get audited.!» W-2 forms for 2012 will be changed to show an employerʼs health-care contributions.!» Congress passed the payroll tax holiday bill.!

7 Every auditor or court will use your PPM to determine your pattern of compliance and whether there will be penalties, interest, and fines levied against your organization.! Compliance!

8 Why You Need a PPM! 1. Your company has too many manuals.! 2. Users donʼt know whatʼs important without one.! 3. Many policies are unwritten.! 4. Users canʼt always find the documents they need.! 5. Many of your procedures are out of date.! 6. Some procedures are ignored or inconsistent.!

9 Policies and Procedures! Policies!» Written to ensure compliance in:! Classification! Overtime!» Ensure compliance within payroll.! Taxation! Withholdngs! FLSA laws! Benefits! Procedures!» Guidelines that show:! How classifications are established! How overtime is tracked/calculated! How taxation is determined, withheld, and reported!

10 Payrollʼs Role!» Help determine worker classification status.!» Raise red flags.!» Calculate compensation! and withhold the correct amount of taxes.!» Make sure the remittances of withholdings and reports are properly filed.!

11 1. Income tax liability for what should have been withheld! 2. Employer FICA and FUTA contributions! 3. Potential overtime pay and other wage claim liability! 4. State unemployment insurance payments! 5. Workersʼ compensation and liability for workplace injuries! 6. Other civil and criminal liability! 7. Workers may be entitled to employee benefit plans.!

12 Independent Contractors vs. Employees! The IRS uses a 20-rule test that can be found in Circular E: Publication 15 ( which explains the difference.! Behavioral control! Financial control! Relationship of the parties!

13 ABC Test! A. Absence of control! B. Business is unusual and/or away! C. Customarily doing business as an independent contractor! Alaska! Arkansas! Colorado! Connecticut! Delaware! Georgia! Hawaii! Illinois! Indiana! Louisiana! Maine! Montana! Nebraska! New Hampshire! New Jersey! New Mexico! Ohio! Pennsylvania! Utah! Vermont! Virginia! Washington! West Virginia!!

14 Voluntary Classification Settlement Program! Provides past payroll tax relief to employers that reclassify their workers! IRS Announcement and IRS Form 8952! Part of the Fresh Start Initiative! Apply at least 60 days before you want to begin treating your workers as employees.!

15 Before hiring, determine the classification status.! Set specific criteria for determining status.! Use Form SS-8 internally. Get guidance from IRS Circular E: Publication 15.! If in doubt, hire the person as a temporary employee or go through a temporary employment agency.! Classification Policy!

16 Onboarding Process! Completion of W-4 before! beginning work! Verification of the personʼs Social Security number before beginning work!

17 Onboarding Process! Policies/Procedures!» Needed for proper payment with taxation being withheld! and remitted!» Needed to prove you have them correctly identified for payroll calculation purposes! Paperwork on File!» Form I-9: They are legal to work.!» W-4: They are subject to taxation.!» Show you can withhold and remit taxes and report it on W-2, 941, 940, etc.!

18 When Writing a Policy! Make sure the policy outlines the expectations that must be followed.! The policy must show what consequences will happen for failure to follow the rules.! Examples of an overtime policy:!» All overtime must be authorized before it will be paid.!» All overtime must be authorized or preapproved. Failure will result in disciplinary action up to and including termination.!

19 Readability!» If the policy and procedure manual is correctly written, it has readability.!» Readability gives specifics so there are no questions as to the intent of the policy and how to enforce it.!

20 Timekeeping Records!» You can allow an employee to time in up to 7 minutes early without having to pay the employee for that time.!» We can round it to the time the employee was scheduled to work.! You must be consistent in rounding practices.! You can discipline a worker, but not if an audit would reveal you only round in your favor.!

21 Review!» Policies: Outline expectations and consequences.!» Procedures: Step-bystep instructions of how to accomplish the goal of the policy!» Why we need them:! They give guidance and expectations.! They show auditors a pattern of being in compliance.!

22 Structuring Procedures! Narrative! Outline! Matrix! Play script! Charting!

23 Gives you a visual of who has what responsibilities! Gives you an idea of where responsibilities need to be accounted for! Allows you! to create procedures! to get the desired results! Shows you the ultimate goal of what the expectation of the policy is! Charting!

24 1. Get paperwork in place for the new employee. 2. W-4 and pay information goes to payroll. 3. Manager approves timecard. 5. Payroll remits and reports withholdings. 4. Payroll generates the paycheck. Visualize! the process.! Charting!

25 Review!» You must make the PPM readable to the personnel affected by the policy.!» Encompass the pertinent steps by charting.!» While charting the process, juggle and adjust the procedures as necessary.!

26 Timekeeping Policies! 1. Long-punching! 2. Short-punching! 3. Traveling or attending training! 4. Breaks! 5. Time-off benefits! 6. Sign off on timecards! 7. Control policies for consequences! 8. Tracking exempt employeesʼ time outside of payroll!

27 Classification Policies! For income tax purposes, you need a policy and procedure for classification of workers.! Independent contractors paid through accounts payable vs. employees paid through payroll! Independent contractors do not have taxes withheld and are issued 1099s.! Employees have taxes withheld and are issued W-2s for their services.!

28 Onboarding Review!» Get the W-2 from all new hires before they are put on the schedule.!» Verify all Social Security numbers.! Include the procedures in your PPM.!

29 Payroll Procedures! 1. Calculation of compensation! 2. How your software system deducts tax withholdings! 3. How you calculate garnishment withholdings!! The payroll company/service is not the one held liable should it make a mistake.!

30 Tax withholding! Remitting and reporting! Record keeping! Other Policies/Procedures to Include in Your PPM!

31 Get the Word Out!» Your manual could be kept electronically on an intra-company Website with limited access to personnel.!» Or print it out and distribute their portion of the policies and procedures to them.!» Training is essential.!

32 New Policy Process! Gather the personnel affected by it.! Ask if the steps work for them.! Explain your process.! Get feedback and make changes.! Try it out and follow up.!

33 New Payroll Policy!» Consider the limitations of the payroll software system in writing stepby-step procedures.!» Look for loopholes.!» Monitor and make changes if necessary.!

34 Final Thoughts!» Having it in writing and not! enforcing it will get you in trouble.!» The most important reason for having a payroll procedures manual is to show a pattern of being in compliance.!» A PPM protects the company and limits the companyʼs liabilities, penalties, fines, and interest.!

35 Welcome to How to Create a Payroll Procedures Manual Q&A! With Max Muller!

36 Thank you for joining us today!!