Let's say an employee comes into your company's payroll office complaining that she just received a letter from the IRS. Her tax refund has been held up due to a discrepancy with her Social Security number (SSN). Another employee then complains that his tax return was kicked back to him because the IRS says the [...]
Thousands of cases are appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court every year, but usually fewer than 100 get a full-blown hearing and ruling. One case that made it through in the current court term is Encino Motorcars v. Navarro. On the surface, this case looks at whether car dealer service advisors are exempt or nonexempt. [...]
How is withholding affected by the TCJA? The amount you elected to have withheld on your Form W-4 under the previous tax law might need to be revised under the new law. If you withhold too much, you're effectively giving the IRS an interest-free loan to use your money until it's refunded after you file [...]
If your company sends its employees off for education, training, counseling or psychological testing on their own time, you may have to pay them. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) generally requires employers to pay non-exempt employees for all the hours they work. (On the other hand, exempt employees are generally salaried staff members compensated [...]
Often companies decide to conduct formal employee surveys when leaders "begin to feel that things have turned slowly south," or when a crisis hits, says Tom Agnew, co-author of a book titled "The Enemy of Engagement, Put an End to Workplace Frustration — and Get the Most from Your Employees." Why wait? The purpose of polling [...]
When an employee leaves your company, the complicated issue of the final paycheck arises. And how your company handles the check depends on state and federal laws, which can make it difficult for businesses operating in more than one state to come up with a uniform nationwide policy. State laws generally determine the timing of [...]
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reports the number of age discrimination claims remains high. The EEOC logged 18,376 such cases during its 2017 fiscal year. What's more, the EEOC says that monetary benefits paid out for this type of claim reached a staggering total of $90.1 million in 2016. Those numbers should make employers [...]
The electronic service, launched in 1996, is primarily a voluntary web-based system, though it could soon become mandatory. E-Verify enables employers to quickly determine whether information supplied by job applicants on their I-9 forms is consistent with data held by the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security. In effect, this is a [...]
"Most entrepreneurs have great talents but many times they think they can do it all. That can really stall the growth of the business. By outsourcing the day to day back-office tasks, the business owner has more time to focus on generating income."—Business owner Laura Lee Sparks, as told to Entrepreneur There are many ways [...]
Normally, your company isn't required to withhold taxes on non-taxable fringe benefits. After all, the employees generally won't have to pay income tax or FICA on those benefits anyway. But taxable non-cash fringe benefits are a different story: They generally must be reported to the IRS and are subject to withholding of income and payroll taxes. [...]
