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Posts published in “Employee Management”

Tax Protestors. Don’t Get Caught Up in Their False Claims

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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…

Labor Pains: Making Maternity Leave a Smooth Delivery

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I am surprised that I have not covered maternity leave in the past nine years, as it is a relevant topic that can impact every employer from the beginning of time.  In fact, at PayMaster we have had about a dozen employees take time off for maternity or paternity leave over our past 30 years; there were even twins once. The term maternity leave covers an employee who is away from work to care for the addition of a child to their family through birth, adoption or foster care placement, but what does it entail?  Eligibility, including whether one is…

WOTC – A Little Known Tax Credit with Big Potential

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Unlike the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERC) that came about as the result of COVID-19 and its effect on businesses, the Workforce Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) has been around since 1996. It only took ERC about two years to gain popularity, but almost three decades later, the WOTC is still mostly unknown. So what exactly is the WOTC and how can it benefit your business? I am glad you asked. It is a federal tax credit ranging from $2,400 to $9,600 per hire, available to employers who hire workers from a ‘targeted group.’ These are workers who may otherwise face…

New USCIS Form I-9 Released August 1, 2023

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On August 1, 2023, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services published the latest version of Form I-9.  The new version can be downloaded here: https://www.uscis.gov/i-9.  Employers should begin to use this new form immediately, and starting November 1, 2023, ONLY this new version will be allowed.  If your employees use PayMaster HCM to complete the Form I-9, we will update to the new version in the coming weeks. There are many big changes with this version.  Wording has been changed from ‘alien’ to ‘noncitizen,’ which I always thought was weird in the first place, and the form was redesigned to…

E-Verify – The Florida Edition

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed Florida’s Senate Bill 1718 into law on May 10, 2023.  This bill has a broad purpose to obstruct the flow of illegal immigration in the state and imposes some of the toughest penalties in the country.  It ‘enhances’ the crime of human smuggling, which is a good thing, but imposes a new rule for employers in the state. Effective July 1, 2023, private employers with 25 or more employees, and public employers, are now required to use the federal E-Verify system to verify employment eligibility of ALL new hires. There is NO requirement to verify employees who began employment prior to that effective date. So…

Secure Act 2.0… Something for Everyone, Especially Employers

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Whether you are a working employee, someone in their retirement or an employer/plan sponsor, the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 has something for everyone. It was included as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, which was passed by Congress on December 23, 2022 and signed into law by President Biden on December 29, 2022. While there is something for everyone, we will focus on the areas in which it affects employers. Some items are effective this year while others will phase in over the next couple of years, but it may be a good idea to start planning today.…

Jury Duty – An Employers Responsibilities

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Jury duty.  It is something that many people dread being called for, but being summoned and responding is a civic duty and an honored privilege, critical to our judicial system.  That can be an article all to itself, but today we will cover how the employer handles calls to jury duty by their employees. Employers are prohibited by state laws from terminating or penalizing an employee, in any way, who is called to serve on jury duty.  Being laid off would certainly dissuade people from serving, so the states provide a bit of protection to the employee.  If the employee…

Business Owners Responsible for Identifying Employees Who Are on the U.S. Sanctions List

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Over two decades ago, as a result of 9/11, President G.W. Bush signed the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (The PATRIOT) Act of 2001 into law. One purpose of the PATRIOT Act is to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world by putting in measures to prevent, detect and prosecute money laundering and financial terrorism. One may ask themselves, what does this have to do with payroll?  Plenty. The Act states that all individuals and organizations within the United States are responsible for ensuring that…

A SSN Card Does Not Mean a Person is Eligible to Work

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The last time I wrote about Social Security Numbers (SSNs) over four years ago, it was a fun and educational piece about the history of the SSN. You can check it out at this link: https://blog.paymaster.com/a-history-and-education-about-the-ssn/ These days, the SSN has become more important than ever, and it is of utmost importance to get it right. Of course, you should always get the SSN right for compliance with the Department of Homeland Security and the IRS, but that does not always happen. The filing of state employment and unemployment taxes has become more sophisticated over the recent years by utilizing…

Why You Should Let Your Payroll Go To The Dogs

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We are finally getting back to a state of normalcy, so the experts say.  Some are going back to their offices, others are getting back to their busy business travel schedules, while others have found that productivity has not been negatively affected by being remote and have made the decision to stay that way.  One of the things people have enjoyed about working from home is having more time with their pets.  Over the past two years, pet adoptions have increased tremendously for a litany of reasons.  Some people were alone and needed companionship while others finally had the time…