Over the next few weeks, as your employees start to receive their 2025 W-2 form, they will likely have questions as to what all those numbers mean. For example, it is not uncommon for a salaried employee who earns a salary of “$50,000” per year question why their Box 1 Wages only reflects $45,000. Did they get underpaid? Probably not. If the employee contributes to a pension plan (aka 401(k)) or has pre-tax insurance deductions, then those amounts reduces the “taxable” wage, which is what is represented in Box 1. Some employees may also wonder why their Federal Income Tax…
Posts published in “Forms”
The IRS has recently published Guidance for Individual Taxpayers who received Qualified Tips or Qualified Overtime Compensation in 2025, Notice 2025-69, which provides direction and examples on how individuals will be able to calculate their Qualified Tips and Qualified Overtime and claim the deduction on their 2025 1040 tax return. Tax year 2025 is a transition year, due to the retroactive nature of its start and the inability of the IRS, Social Security Administration and payroll systems to implement the changes. The amounts arrived at, by the below methods, may not be 100% accurate, but it is acceptable for 2025, according…
As discussed in our earlier blog post here, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) allows for a provision of “no tax” on tips and overtime. This has turned out to be a bit of a mess, as it pertains to 2025 reporting to the employees, due to insufficient time for the Social Security Administration and the IRS to make the changes to their forms to account for it. Not to mention many payroll systems were not prepared for this brand new retroactive reporting, especially as it pertains to qualified overtime. With that being said, 2025 will be treated as…
Imagine this: You’re a small business owner in a quaint coastal town, hiring for a key position. You dot your i’s and cross your t’s, running the candidate through the government’s own verification system. It comes back clean—authorized to work. You breathe a sigh of relief, thinking you’ve covered all your bases. Then, bam! Federal agents show up and it turns out your new hire wasn’t eligible after all. Sounds like a nightmare? Well, it happened in real life, and it’s a wake-up call for anyone relying on E-Verify to stay on the right side of the law. In this…
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) went into effect over a decade ago on January 1, 2014. While we would hope that it is second nature by now, we find that for many, the year-end deadline still sneaks up on us and causes undue stress. Confucius said “Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation, there is sure to be failure,” so with a little bit of preparation now, one can be ahead of the game when we get to December. Here is what can be done ahead of time: It goes, without saying, that the first step is determining…
On Independence Day, 2025, President Trump signed into law the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. This 330-page act covers a great deal, most of which will not be discussed in this article, but since it does have an impact on the payroll world, I will review pertinent items including the no tax on tips and overtime provision and the retroactive change to the Employee Retention Tax Credit. Employee Retention Tax Credit For ERTC, there will be no credit allowed for claims involving the 3rd and 4th quarter 2021, filed after January 31, 2024. This is somewhat good news, as Congress…
Over the next few weeks, as your employees start to receive their 2024 W-2 form, they will likely have questions as to what all those numbers mean. For example, it is not uncommon for a salaried employee who earns a salary of $50,000 per year question why their Box 1 Wages only reflects $45,000. Did they get underpaid? Probably not. If the employee contributes to a pension plan (aka 401(k)) or has pre-tax insurance deductions, then those amounts reduces the “taxable” wage, which is what appears in Box 1. Some employees may also wonder why their Federal Income Tax withheld…
PayMaster Payroll Times - August 2023
In this edition:
New USCIS Form I-9
Are paychecks being mailed to your employees?
Fun Days in August
Waiting to be Engaged? or Engaged to Work?
In this newsletter:
E-Verify goes into effect for Florida Employers
I-9 Flexibility Ends July 31,2023
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
Labor Poster Changes
Did you hire someone who is giving you pushback on submitting a W-4 form, or maybe they even presented you with a little-known tax form stating that they do not pay taxes? If so, you may have hired a tax protestor. No need to panic; you may be able to talk some sense into them. Tax protestors could simply be misinformed individuals, and with social media exposure, that is easy to come by. I have seen TikTok videos, X posts, YouTube and the like, falsely leading people down this path. They claim that taxation is voluntary, does not apply to…