Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Many employers that sponsor 401(k) retirement plans make mistakes in the way they report elective deferrals on Form W-2, the federal tax agency’s Wage and Tax Statement sent to employees. IRS on Feb. 13 said on its website that its Employee Plans Compliance Unit sampled filings from employers that provided Forms W-2 and found 75 […]
Here are the questions Neelman asks clients to help them complete their planning for 2013. Neelman is a principal and senior consultant with Compensation Resources, Inc. in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Who are your best employees? Which employees truly impact your success? What employees can you least afford to lose? What are your strategies […]
[Go here for yesterday’s Q&A] How does an employer know whether the coverage it offers is “affordable”? If an employee’s share of the premium for employer-provided coverage would cost the employee more than 9.5% of that employee’s annual household income, the coverage is not considered affordable for that employee. If an employer offers multiple healthcare […]
In the case of most employers, these requirements will be simple to implement, Simon says. But in the case of employers that are on the borderline of being covered or on the borderline of providing minimum essential and affordable healthcare coverage, the requirements can become very technical. Some of the questions and answers are presented […]
(This is a continuation of the previous story) Exactly what standard of protection is acceptable in a QTFB debit card is unsettled. Not all cards are created equal, and some types do a better job of restricting transactions than others. Swafford maintains that the debit card program the DOT has implemented is not only […]
Employer sponsors of health plans must count members in retiree-only plans and COBRA-eligible plans for purposes of paying into health reform’s Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. Furthermore, employees covered under two or more “specified” policies can be counted (and taxed) more than once. The IRS final rule on employer payment of PCORI fees disregarded employer requests to exclude […]
The IRS has announced the 2013 standard mileage rate to use in computing the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business use. Employers often use the rate to determine how much they will pay employees for using their personal vehicles for work-related purposes. The 2013 rate for transportation or travel expenses is 56.5 cents […]
Employees who want to help victims of Hurricane Sandy through leave donation may do so without being taxed on the monetary value of the vacation days, sick days and personal leave they donate, the IRS announced Nov. 6. In a leave donation program, employees forgo vacation, sick or personal leave and return it to their […]
It’s almost an understatement to call misclassification of employees as independent contractors a hot topic. It’s certainly the subject of a growing list of court cases, government agency investigations, and legislative initiatives. Various agencies at both the state and federal level have been in crackdown mode for a few years now, and it’s no wonder: […]
As the holiday season approaches, employers and employees are beginning to anticipate holiday bonuses. Whether they come in the form of material gifts, cash awards or other benefits, employers should be careful in providing them, because sometimes bonuses must be included in the employee’s pay rate. Although “improper bonus” cases are not common, they still […]