Payroll Tax Table Updates
Alert
Since
the Year-end compliance
updates release 12/15/2009
the following states
Arizona, Minnesota, Missouri
and Oklahoma have had
Withholding tax variables
change. Indiana State
Unemployment limit is
currently under review by
the Indiana legislature.
Please verify that your
system limit matches the
paper change.
Paper
changes to adjust theses
states withholding tables
for OSAS versions 7.5x and
7.0x, and TRAVERSE versions
10.5x and 10.2x are
available below:
TRAVERSE
OSAS
Preventing
Fraud with TRAVERSE
There are several features
found within your accounting
software applications that
address an employer’s
concern regarding identity
theft and fraud.
In Payroll you can designate
which forms and reports
display the employee’s
Social Security Number. You
have a choice to print
either all the Social
Security Number, none of the
Social Security Number or
just the last four digits on
the employee’s check stub or
voucher.
In Direct Deposit you have
the choice of printing all,
none, or the last four
digits of the bank account
number on the employee’s
Direct Deposit
Voucher.
Using Direct Deposit rather
than writing checks to your
employees can also save the
employee from identity theft
since there is no check for
the employee to have to take
to the bank. The payroll
amount is automatically
deposited.
The application Banking adds
additional features to
prevent fraud and identity
theft. Using this
application you have the
ability to pay your Accounts
Payable invoices
electronically and deposit
the amount you owe a vendor
directly into their bank
account. There is no mailing
of the check and no check
floating around where
someone can get hold of it
and steal your
information.
Banking also includes a
feature called “Positive
Pay”. What this feature does
for fraud protection is to
create a file from the
checks you are about to run.
This file is then
transmitted to your bank
listing the check date, the
check number and the check
amount. With this
information the bank will
only cash checks against
your account that meet the
criteria. This stops any and
all illegal copies of checks
that may have been created
by persons trying to fraud
your company. This feature
is available in both
Accounts Payable and
Payroll, so that if for some
reason you decide NOT to use
the ACH or Direct Deposit
methods of payments the
checks that you write and
mail are protected. If a
check is presented to the
bank that is not on the
positive pay list it will
not be paid by the
bank.
Setting your options to not
allow display of Social
Security Numbers will
protect your employees
should someone happen to get
on your workstation when you
are away and left open the
Payroll
Application.
In Accounts Receivable there
is an option to not allow
the Customer Credit card
number to be displayed. With
Banking you can additionally
set an ‘Authorization
Required for Amounts Over
$”. This will require an
authorization whenever a
receipt for a credit card is
above this stated
amount.
It is your responsibility as
an employer to protect the
identity and personal
information about your
employees from fraud. It is
also your own responsibility
to protect yourself from
fraud. We are here and we
can assist you in ways to
protect yourself and your
employees.
Top
New
Bank Accounts in OSAS
With the New Year often come
new Bank Accounts. To set up
new bank accounts you need
to do several
things.
First, set up the General
Ledger Account number for
this new bank account. Make
sure that it is also
included in the contents of
your Balance
Sheet.
Next set up the new Bank
Account and assign to it the
new General Ledger Account
number that you just set
up.
If it is to be your default
bank account then set this
Bank Account to be the
default.
If you will NOT be using the
old bank account for
deposits any longer go into
Sales Order/Accounts
Receivable and call up each
method of payment. Change
the bank account inside the
method of payment to reflect
the new bank
account.
If you will be using both
bank accounts for deposits
then set up another method
of payment for checks, cash,
etc to go to this new bank
account. Then upon entering
cash receipts you will use
the Method of Payment that
pertains to the Bank you are
depositing the deposit
to.
If you will be using MOSTLY
the new account you may want
to change the existing
Methods of Payments to
reflect the new bank and set
up new Methods of Payment
for the old accounts. This
is because the old Methods
of Payments are already set
up in the customer master
file as a default. Otherwise
you would need to remember
to change the Method of
Payment each time you enter
a cash receipt.
In Accounts Payable you may
need to change Bank Accounts
within Hold and Release if
Bank Accounts have been
assigned to the vendors.
Simply go through the
invoices in Hold and Release
and make the change under
edit.
Always double check your
reports before posting
during this transition for
proper bank.
Top
Stop and Double Check
During this time of
transition between 2009 and
2010 ALWAYS double check
yourself to ensure you are
in the proper Fiscal Year.
If you are using Traverse
you can go to System Manager
à
Company Setup à
Period Conversion and close
the first 6 months of 2009,
if they are not already, and
then close the second 6
months of 2010, to be opened
when July gets near. This
will keep users from
accidentally type 12/31/2010
or 1/1/09 and then
transactions posting to the
wrong period.
You are in a hurry and it is
easy to miss a ‘warning’.
Always stop and read each
‘prompt’ TWICE before you
act. This sounds simplistic
but it is as important as
‘backing up’ your
databases.
Also, always double check
your journals to make sure
the Period and GL Year are
correct.
When entering General Ledger
transactions take a double
look at the year you want to
enter transactions into is
correct. Just dating GL
transactions a specific date
will NOT put them in the
proper year. They must be
entered into the proper
year.
Should you enter your
transactions into the wrong
year you will need to
reverse those entries in the
incorrect year and then
re-enter them into the
correct year.
Also remember to UPDATE
CURRENT YEAR each time you
post to the master in
GL.
Top
Payroll
New
Year Tips in OSAS
There is no Social Security
Wage Base Change for 2010,
since there is no
Cost–of-Living (COLA) for
Social Security
beneficiaries in 2010. The
Wage Limit remains at
$106,800.00.
There are no changes to the
paper or the Magnetic Media
filings for the year ended
2009.
Any manual changes made to
the W2 information need to
be made in Employee History
and Employer History with
the “View Taxable Earnings”
Box Checked.
Deductions and Earnings
codes that need to be
printed on the W2’s are set
up with the description you
need right within the
Deduction and Earning Code
Setup itself. Just insert
the W2 Box to print in and
the description (one or two
letters) that you want to
appear. Descriptions for Box
12 can be found on the back
of the W2’s.
Remember to re-prepare your
W2’s each time you make any
changes to them.
Check the State Unemployment
table to insure that the
proper rate and limit is
being used for the New Year.
In some cases applying the
Year End Updates may
overwrite this
table.
Always double check yourself
the first few weeks of 2010
to make sure you are in the
proper year for your
Transaction entry.
One final note
Not every year has only 52
Pay Periods in it. For the
year 2010 since it begins on
a Friday there will be 53
Pay Periods and not 52. If
your Pay Date is Friday and
you opted to date your
checks 12/31/09 rather than
01/01/10 then the year 2009
will have 53 weeks rather
than 52.
This ‘extra’ week is nothing
you need to worry about. The
amount of this extra check
and the amount of taxes
withheld are immaterial in
the scheme of a year and you
should not be concerned, nor
should you change the number
of weeks to calculate on in
the employee’s file.
Top
Change ID’s
in TRAVERSE
This feature has been around
for a few versions now. It
seems to be one of those
features that get forgotten,
when it really can be a
handy tool for cleaning up
your data.
In System Manager, Set Up
and Maintenance, Change Id’s
you can change the Customer,
Vendor, Employee, Bank
Account, Item, Department,
GL Account, and Sales Rep
ID. Simply select the ID you
want to change, enter the
old ID and enter the ID you
want to change it to. When
OK is selected the change
will be complete throughout
all applications including
histories that contain that
ID.
Remember this is a single
user ‘sa’ function. No one
else can be in the system
when you are changing ID’s.
Top
Dates to Consider
By January 15, 2010
Review paychecks outstanding
more than two pay periods so
that voided checks are
reflected on the 2009 W-2’s.
Be sure total FWH, MED, and
OAS reported on the
quarterly 941’s match 2009
W2’s
Enter Third Party sick pay
on both 941’s and W2’s.
By January 31, 2010
If the Special Accounting
Rule was elected for 2009,
notify employees by today
Have W2’s postmarked or in
employee’s hands or
available to them on a Web
site.
Have 1099MISC for 2009
postmarked or available on
line.
Postmark 1099-R for pension
and retirement, etc
postmarked.
Top
InterMicro Enhancements
Based on requests from
clients, we have created a
number of enhancements that
may also benefit you. We
will be making a section on
our website to support a
listing of these
enhancements. Each month we
will feature an enhancement
in our newsletter as well.
For more enhancements
available from InterMicro
visit
http://www.intermicro.com/products.html.
