I just had a conversation with a friend whose husband was laid off during the CoVid19 epidemic. Financially, they did ok as he received the extra $600 per week under the CARES act. 

My friend mentioned that her husband received $600 per week – which led me to ask her if he had chosen to have income tax withheld.  Neither of them had any idea that the unemployment was taxable and that those benefits would be included in their taxable income – which would mean coming up with the extra tax before April 15, 2021.  The benefits are also taxable in states that have state income tax. The following is from the IRS website (please see your state website for more info on state rates):

By law, unemployment compensation is taxable and must be reported on a 2020 federal income tax return. Taxable benefits include any of the special unemployment compensation authorized under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, enacted this spring.

Withholding is voluntary. Federal law allows any recipient to choose to have a flat 10% withheld from their benefits to cover part or all of their tax liability. To do that, fill out Form W-4V, Voluntary Withholding Request PDF, and give it to the agency paying the benefits. Don’t send it to the IRS. If the payor has its own withholding request form, use it instead.

If a recipient doesn’t choose withholding, or if withholding is not enough, they can make quarterly estimated tax payments instead. The payment for the first two quarters of 2020 was due on July 15. Third and fourth quarter payments are due on September 15, 2020, and January 15, 2021, respectively. For more information, including some helpful worksheets, see Form 1040-ES and Publication 505, available on IRS.gov.

Recipients who return to work before the end of the year can use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator to make sure they are having enough tax taken out of their pay. Available only on IRS.gov, this online tool can help any worker or pension recipient avoid or lessen their year-end tax bill or estimate the refund they want.

In January 2021, unemployment benefit recipients should receive a Form 1099-G, Certain Government Payments PDF from the agency paying the benefits. The form will show the amount of unemployment compensation they received during 2020 in Box 1, and any federal income tax withheld in Box 4. Taxpayers report this information, along with their W-2 income, on their 2020 federal tax return. For more information on unemployment, see Unemployment Benefits in Publication 525.

The beautiful Fall colors serve as a reminder to those of us in the Payroll World that 2021 is just around the corner. 

You will be receiving your 2021 Unemployment Rates in the next couple of weeks.  Please be sure to forward those rates to us as soon as you receive them.  Following is the pop up that appears on the WI DWD website.  As an employer, if you believe you may qualify for relief of UI benefit charging, you can go to https://dwd.wisconsin.gov/uitax/ and click on Request Relief of Charging to keep your UI rates as low as possible.

I have had many flashbacks from 10 years ago when almost every state in the Union had to pay back the Federal Unemployment fund because of high numbers of people on unemployment.  We may not see increased rates in 2021 – but I will be very surprised if we don’t see a substantial increase in 2022 – not to mention paying back any loans from the Feds.  For the most part, our clients have bounced back and are almost all back to pre-March numbers of employees.  Keep up the good work!  #bettertogether

 There is no argument that employees are one of a company’s most important resource and greatest asset.  With that said, employees are often the source of a company’s greatest loss.  While most employees are honest and true team players – there are those who, well, not so much.  Employee theft is one of the highest risks facing business owners today – whether it be merchandise theft, being paid for hours not worked, missing office supplies, or accounts payable fraud.   

 We are pleased to announce an important software update that will help minimize the risks of your payroll exceeding their maximum allowed thresholds – whether entered inadvertently or entered maliciously for purposes of fraud. 

 Our payroll software can monitor and warn about payrolls that exceed the Maximum Hours and the Maximum Dollars.  While these amounts can be overwritten, you will be made aware that there is a “higher than normal” check in your payroll records.   Our hope with rolling this out is to catch a payment issue prior to it becoming a[KM1]  payment issue.

After WI Pay sets the limits per your specifications, you will receive a warning when submitting your payroll.  This applies to all clients who are using online payroll to calculate their payroll.  If you are not using the online payroll (why not ask us about it), we can enter thresholds for you and advise you of any threshold overages.

Funny thing – employees will usually catch an underpayment but will often “miss” an overpayment.  Hmmm…

---

 [KM1]

Part of our Vision Statement is to be using state-of-the-art technology as much as possible.  We are 95% paper free and have secured new online software for both payroll and property management functions.

In the “old” days, our clients created a spreadsheet and faxed their hours to us.  We keyed the hours into our software and faxed them a payroll register for their approval.  They would review the payroll register, mark any corrections, and fax it back to us.  We would then make the changes as we interpreted them to be (sometimes an 8 looks like a 3 on thermal fax paper) and send them a new payroll register.  The client would then review again, sign the bottom as approved and fax it back to us.  At that point, we could move ahead with processing the payroll.  

The next big technology change was email – which helped with 8’s looking like 3’s, but as we know was far from secure.  Even with this advance, payroll still took multiple hours from start to finish.

Welcome web-based technology!!! 

Our new software has the capability for you to log in (to the same site as you go to retrieve your payroll reports) and enter your employee’s hours directly into the software.  You can then calculate the payroll (this is a pre-process), review the payroll register and you are done.  No more waiting for us to get back to you and you have access to your payroll at your convenience 24/7!

This is fast becoming the payroll procedure of choice as it allows for your payroll to be done your way – on your time schedule.  We will continue to review, adjust, and make suggestions.  We will also set up all deductions, etc., so that the net pay continues to calculate correctly. 

   Please let us know when you are ready to be hands on and in control!

In Business Planning Class 101, you will be instructed to create a Vision, Mission and Values Statement for your company.  

Our statements are in the front of our employee manual.   While updating our manual I took some time to contemplate our statements.  Happily, I still agree with them – even though they have been in effect for almost 16 years.   Some say I am predictable, in this case, that pleases me.   If you have not taken the time to put your company’s Vision, Mission and Values on paper, perhaps now is a good time to do so.  Following are ours.   Feel free to borrow them and change to make them your own.  They have withstood the test of time for us!

Vision

Wisconsin Pay Specialists will be recognized as a leader by revolutionizing the payroll, bookkeeping and property management industries through successful partnerships, local, personal service and state-of-the-art technology seamlessly integrating the entire payroll, bookkeeping, and property management processes.  When businesses in Northeast Wisconsin think to hire a payroll, bookkeeping, or property management service, they will want to hire us!

Mission

Our mission is to provide accurate payroll, bookkeeping, property management and business services that save our clients’ time, help them to be more aware of their business’s financial condition and become more profitable in a friendly manner exhibiting exemplary customer service at all times.

Values

We uphold the values of teamwork, accountability, integrity, responsibility, personal growth, respect, and efficiency in both our internal co-worker relationships and our external customer relationships.

Back in “the day” payroll checks were calculated using the infamous green ledger sheets and cash or handwritten checks were delivered to the employees on payday. This was ok until you realized you had a sneaky employee who mastered “doctoring” their check and wha-la their $1000 check is now a $1800 check.

And now it’s time to get into the 21^st Century with Direct Deposit.

As an employer why direct deposit?  So glad you asked!

1.  No more checks run through the washer so no more stopping payment on checks and no more cutting replacement checks.
2. No more “I have to leave work early so I can get my check into the bank before 2.”
3.  Employees can log into their bank account and see their pay – usually in the wee hours of the morning of payday – even before they get to work.
4. Funds are available immediately – employees no longer must wait for the check to clear in order to access their pay.
5. Even if your employees are off on payday – they still get paid – with no hoops for you to jump though.
6. Your bank account information is more secure, as pay stubs for direct deposit do not include the employer’s bank account number.
7. Your employees can distribute funds to multiple accounts to help with their budgeting and implement a savings strategy.
8. Entering your payroll is now done with one entry rather than entering and waiting for multiple checks to clear – saves on bookkeeping time.
9. With direct deposit, you can also have employee self-services.  No more worries about employees seeing other employees’ checks and finally
10. You’re helping the environment!

If you are a Wisconsin employer, you can require employees to be paid via Direct Deposit.  If you have an employee who does not have a bank account – no worries, we have Pay Cards – which are debit cards that we load their pay onto. It is time.

Through hard work and perseverance, I’ve gone from living paycheck to paycheck – to living direct deposit to direct deposit.

Tired of Worker’s Comp audits?

Tired of paying high premium bills after an audit?

Wish there were an easier way?

Then today is your lucky day!  We offer a pay-as-you-go option, which is quite literally pay-as-you-go. 

After your payroll is run, a file is automatically uploaded to the worker’s comp carrier, who then ACH’s your worker’s comp insurance premium for that payroll only.  Done.  No more audits, no more big bills after the audit.  It just doesn’t get any better than this!

Let us know if you are interested in simplifying your days and we will put you in touch with a Worker’s Comp expert who will get you set up and the next time you run payroll, you will be on your way to hands off worker’s compensation coverage!

We are in month 4 of managing our lives and businesses in the midst of CoVid-19.  For some, this has been business as usual; for others, it has been devastating.    Early on we saw lots of social media posts encouraging us to order take-out from our local restaurants and to purchase from mom and pop shops rather than the big box stores. 

Now, let’s talk about referrals!  It is the way that most small businesses grow their business.  I tell you, you tell your friend, who tells her sister, who tells her mom and pretty soon business is booming. 

I usually only do business with businesses that are referred to me.  I feel that if you are willing to recommend a business to me, that business must have done right by you and will therefore, do right by me. 

When I refer you to a business that I have worked with, I am doing so with confidence that you will be treated well and taken care of.    I also know that if things are not going well, I can call that business on your behalf and help to get things moving smoothly. 

I don’t know anyone who grows up thinking they want to run payroll.  But I do know people who wake up wanting to help people run and grow their businesses.  By making referrals, I am helping both the business I am referring to AND the business needing the service/product.  It is truly a win-win!

For the month of July – Wisconsin Pay Specialists is offering a $50 gas card for a referral that signs on with us to do payroll or bookkeeping!  Don’t keep us a secret.

Now that things are opening back up, keep in mind that if you call an employee back work and they refuse to come back, they should no longer be receiving unemployment and you need to complete the WD0003 (yellow form) indicating that they refused work. 

If we manage your unemployment claims, be sure to let us know of any employees who are receiving unemployment and have refused your offer to return to work so that we mark the correct box on the form!

Best wishes to everyone – stay healthy and let’s get to work!!

Wisconsin to Revise Withholding Methods, Effective July 1

At the direction of Governor Tony Evers, the Department of Revenue will be revising withholding tax tables. The updated withholding tables will be effective for payroll periods beginning on or after July 1, 2020.

Employers are required to implement the revised tables no later than July 1, 2020. Publication W-166, Wisconsin Employer’s Withholding Tax Guide, will be updated with the new withholding tables by April 1, 2020.

It is important to note that an individual may file a new Form WT-4, Employee’s Wisconsin Withholding Exempt Certificate/New Hire Reporting, with his or her employer any time he or she wishes to change the amount of withholding from his or her paychecks, provided the number of exemptions claimed does not exceed the number he or she is entitled to claim.